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Iraq's Forgotten
The Assyrian-Chaldean Christian community has lived in their ancient homeland since before the time of the Prophet of Islam, and were tolerated fairly well by their Muslim neighbors, at least until the reaction against the British mandate in the 1930s. For all its sadistic brutality against suspected political dissidents, the Saddam regime by and large protected Iraqi Christians and Jews from Islamicist terrorism. Now the Bush war has unleashed a new wave of persecution.
Christian communities in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul are facing serious acts of intimidation, says Fides, the news agency of the Vatican Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
"Last week a bomb was found in front of a Catholic school in Mosul; luckily it was defused before it could explode," Chaldean Catholic priest Father Nizar Semaan told Fides.
"The bomb was a cluster of low [powered] hand grenades, but it could have killed or injured the children," he said. "For security reasons the school was closed for a good week."
"Also last week a round from a Kalashnikov was fired against the residence of the Syro-Antiochian bishop in my city," the priest added. "This is probably the work of Wahabi extremists in Mosul."
Christian communities in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul are facing serious acts of intimidation, says Fides, the news agency of the Vatican Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
"Last week a bomb was found in front of a Catholic school in Mosul; luckily it was defused before it could explode," Chaldean Catholic priest Father Nizar Semaan told Fides.
"The bomb was a cluster of low [powered] hand grenades, but it could have killed or injured the children," he said. "For security reasons the school was closed for a good week."
"Also last week a round from a Kalashnikov was fired against the residence of the Syro-Antiochian bishop in my city," the priest added. "This is probably the work of Wahabi extremists in Mosul."