Displaced Christians who fled the violence in Mosul pray at Mar Aframa Church in the town of Qaraqoush.(AP Photo)

Political and religious leaders expressed outrage and demanded action Sunday after ISIS militants drove Mosul’s Christians from the northern Iraqi city, effectively ending a presence there dating back to Christianity’s earliest years.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki condemned the actions of ISIS and said it showed “the extreme criminality and terrorist nature of this group”.

He instructed a government committee set up to support displaced people across Iraq to help the Christians who had been made homeless, but did not say when the army might try to win back control of Mosul.

One Christian who left Mosul last week described how he fled with his family when he learned of the ISIS ultimatum.

Iraq’s Christian communities date back to the first centuries of the religion, but modern Iraq’s Christian population has dropped from the roughly 1 million people who lived there before the 2003 U.S.-led occupation to just under half, or an estimated 450,000, today.

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2014/Jul-21/264567-christian-exodus-from-mosul-sparks-outrage.ashx#ixzz383rgjldg
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)