Three Iraqi Christians murdered

Thursday, 30th April 2009
By Paolo Gallini

Three Iraqi Christians were murdered last Sunday and two others were injured in two separate incidents in the city of Kirkuk. These attacks take place in a context of intense hostility to Christians from militant Islamists.

The following has been posted on various websites: “The General Secretariat of the Adherent of Islam Brigade has decided to address the final warning to ... the infidel Christian Crusaders ... and order you to leave immediately, in masses and permanently from the Muslim countries. There is no place for you infidel Christians among the Muslim believers in Iraq from now on.

Otherwise, our swords will be legalized over your neck.”The letter is part of a determined Islamist campaign to drive out the Christian community from Iraq. Although the Christians, as ethnic Assyrians, are the indigenous people of Iraq, Muslim extremists are trying to cleanse the country of their supposedly defiling presence. In the face of threats such as these, which are often followed through in violence and even murder, the Christian population has dwindled from 1.5 million in 1990 and today may number no more than 400,000. the rest