Qaeda not involved in forcing Christians to leave Mosul, government says

 

Azzaman, October 15, 2008

 

 

There are no indications that the Qaeda group in Iraq is involved in forcing Christians to flee the northern city of Mosul, a senior Interior Ministry official said.

 

But Ministry spokesman Abdulkarim Khalaf declined to say who was behind the latest wave of anti-Christian violence in the city, a traditional center of Christianity in Iraq.

 

However Khalaf said, “I do not think al-Qaeda is behind the attacks against Mosul Christians.”

 

More than 1,300 Christian families have fled the city and more than 13 Christians have been killed in the past two weeks.

 

Most of the victims and the fleeing refugees lived on the left bank of the city where Kurdish militias are in control as it is mainly a Kurdish-inhabited area.

 

Most of the Christians on the right bank of the Tigris River, a predominately Arab sector, are reported to have preferred to stay.

 

Anti-Christian violence has concentrated in areas where Kurdish militias exercise almost full control.

 

But residents say an explosive charge placed at the entrance of an ancient church in the Arab quarter went off on Tuesday, inflicting some material damage but causing no injuries.

 

Iraqi resistance groups fighting U.S. occupation including as al-Qaeda have issued statements denying their involvement.

 

The Kurds have also denied that their militias were behind the latest violence.