Islamic State Destroys 1,800-Year-Old Church
Members of the militant Islamic State in Iraq and Syria torched an 1,800 year-old Catholic Church in Mosul as Christians fled for fear of their lives, according to the Christian Post.
Iraq
Islamic State to Christians in Mosul: Convert or Die
The Islamic State have distributed leaflets to Christians in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul threatening to kill them if they don’t convert, according to Breitbart News.
Patriarch Appeals for Missing Nuns, Orphans
Iraq’s Patriarch has appealed for the release of two nuns and three orphans who have been missing in Mosul, according to Yahoo News.
Islamic State Demands Tax From Christians; Rapes Those Who Can’t Pay
The Islamic State (IS) has been brutally enforcing Islamic laws in Mosul, according to the Assyrian International News Agency.
ISIS Begins Imposing Poll Tax on Christians in Mosul
The High Commission for Human Rights in Iraq has confirmed that the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant has begun imposing the jizya or poll tax on Christians in Mosul, according to the Assyrian International News Agency.
Christian Refugees Flood Out of Mosul
Bodies of Christians covered the streets of Iraq’s second-largest city after Sunni jihadists seized a town that Iraqi Christians had thought was their last refuge, according to Christian Headlines.com.
Homes of Christians Fleeing Iraq Seized by Gangs
Gangs in Baghdad are seizing homes left vacant by Christian families who have been forced to flee from sectarian violence, according to Barnabas Aid.
Iraq Christians Fear More Violence After Church Attacks, Killings
Minority Christians in Iraq feared more violence Saturday, June 29, after several Assyrian Christian shops and one church were attacked, killing two people and injuring a dozen others, church representatives said.
Fatwa threatens Iraqi Christians
A Muslim cleric has issued a fatwa threatening Iraqi Christians unless they convert to Islam, but the country’s prime minister urged them to stay.
Mosul Iraq’s ‘Most Dangerous City’ For Christians
Mosul is now one of the most violent cities in Iraq with Christians and other minorities singled out for attacks and thousands continue to flee from the troubled nation, a Christian group said Thursday, August 16.
Pakistan Among World’s Worst Violators of Religious Freedoms
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom recommended that the Secretary of State name Pakistan as a Country of Particular Concern in its 2012 Annual Report.
New U.S. Security Measures Leave Iraqi Christian Refugees in Limbo
The immigration status of thousands of Christians fleeing from persecution in Iraq are now in limbo thanks to new security measures.
Four People Kidnapped in Iraq
Four people, three Christians and one of Turkish origin, were kidnapped on Sept. 21 according to Middle East Concern. They were returning from a hunting trip when their vehicle was stopped by armed men. The vehicle was found a short time later after it had been burned, with the bodies of the dogs inside.
Iraq Christians Kidnapped Amid Heightened Security Concerns
Security forces on Wednesday, September 28, still searched for three Iraqi Christians, a week after they were reportedly kidnapped by suspected militants in Iraq’s northern city of Kirkuk.
Another Failed Bombing in the Christian Enclave of Kirkuk
Kirkuk police recently report that they deactivated an explosive device left near the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in the Almass district of Kirkuk.
Church Attack in Northern Iraq Wounds 23
Although security forces found and disabled two cars packed with explosives in northern Iraq Tuesday, a third exploded outside a Christian church, wounding 23 people.
Iraq’s first new church opens under US occupation
Iraq’s first new church under the US occupation opened its doors in the northern city of Kirkuk, the region’s Chaldean archbishop told AFP.
Middle East Christians facing ‘extremist atrocities’
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, warned that the vacuum left by failed autocratic regimes was being filled by extremists who have turned the Arab Spring into a “very anxious time” for Christians.
Baghdad Church Bombing Injures 7
A roadside bomb exploded near the rear entrance of a Catholic church in Iraq’s capital Baghdad after Easter Mass Sunday, April 24, injuring at least seven people, Christians said.
Iraqi Christians speed exodus to Kurdistan
A modern day exodus of Christians into the autonomous Kurdish regions of Iraq greatly increased after a series of attacks against them, according to the International Organization for Migration.