News&Reporting

Islamic State militants seized control of the "Christian capital of Iraq,” Qaraqosh, and nearby Christian villages last night. The land grab sent has sent an estimated one-fourth of Iraq's remaining Christians fleeing.

"An exodus, a real via crucis ... [Christians] are walking on foot in Iraq's searing summer heat towards [salvation in] the Kurdish cities of Erbil, Duhok and Soulaymiyia, the sick, the elderly, infants and pregnant women among them," a regional Christian leader told AsiaNews. "They are facing a humanitarian catastrophe and a real risk of genocide. They need food, water and shelter."

Qaraqosh, Iraq's most-populous Christian city at 50,000 people, is in the province of Nineveh, 18 miles southeast of Mosul, where CT recently reported the Islamist takeover of Iraq's second-largest city. The move brings ISIS on the border of Kurdish territory. (The Telegraphmapswhere Christians are concentrated in Iraq in relation to other religious ...

You have reached the end of this Article Preview

To continue reading, subscribe now. Subscribers have full digital access.

Log InSubscribe

Already a CT subscriber? Log in for full digital access.