Iraqi Christian: We Took Only Our Souls

By Michelle A. Vu
Christian Post Reporter
Tue, Oct. 14 2008

Iraqi Christians set up tents for displaced Christian families in a soccer stadium of Burtulla, 30 kilometters (18 miles) east of Mosul, 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad, Iraq, on Sunday, Oct. 12, 2008. Hundreds of terrified Christian families have fled Mosul to escape extremist attacks that have increased despite months of U.S. and Iraqi military operations to secure the northern Iraqi city, political and religious officials said Saturday.

At least 744 Christian families, or about 3,750 people, fled the city dubbed by U.S. and Iraqi commanders as the last urban stronghold of Al-Qaeda for refuge with relatives in churches and at Christian centers in several towns and villages to the north and east of Mosul, according the U.K-based persecution watchdog ministry Barnabas Fund.

Some are even sleeping in their cars.

These displaced Iraqi Christians are said to be in desperate need of food, clothing, bedding, personal hygiene items and other basic necessities.

“We left everything behind us. We took only our souls,” said Ni’ma Noail, 50, a civil servant who was forced by the violence to abandon his home in Mosul and is now living in a church, according to Barnabas Fund. the rest