Al Jazeera
Islamic State takes Iraqi Christian town
Thousands forced to flee towards Kurdistan as Sunni fighters take over
country's largest Christian town, Qaraqosh.
Last updated: 07 Aug 2014
Fighters have taken over Iraq's largest Christian town Qaraqosh and
surrounding areas and sent tens of thousands of panicked residents fleeing
towards autonomous Kurdistan, officials and witnesses have said.
The Islamic State group moved in overnight after the withdrawal of Kurdish
peshmerga troops, who are stretched thin across several fronts in Iraq,
residents said.
Qaraqosh is an entirely Christian town which lies between Mosul, the
Islamic State group's main hub in Iraq, and Erbil, the Kurdish region's
capital.
It usually has a population of around 50,000.
The Islamic State, which has declared a caliphate in parts of Iraq and
Syria it controls, clashed with Kurdish forces on Wednesday in the town of
Makhmour near Erbil. An Al Jazeera source however said peshmerga forces
remained in control of Makhmour.
'Catastrophe'
In the latest advance, fighters seized the mainly Christian town of
Tilkaif, as well as al-Kwair, witnesses said.
"It's a catastrophe, a tragic situation. We call on the UN Security Council
to immediately intervene. Tens of thousands of terrified people are being
displaced as we speak, it cannot be described," Joseph Thomas, the Chaldean
archbishop of Kirkuk and Sulaimaniyah, told the AFP news agency.
Tilkaif, the home of a significant Christian community as well as members
of the Shabak Shia minority, also emptied overnight.
"Tilkaif is now in the hands of the Islamic State. They faced no resistance
and rolled in just after midnight," said Boutros Sargon, a resident who
fled the town.
"I heard some gunshots last night and when I looked outside, I saw a
military convoy from the Islamic State. They were shouting 'Allahu Akbar' [God
is
greatest]," he said.
In July, hundreds of families left Mosul in northern Iraq after the Islamic
State_ issued an ultimatum to Christians_
(http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/07/iraq-christians-told-convert-face-death-2014718111040982432
.html) to either convert or face death.
On Thursday, Pope Francis issued an "urgent appeal" to the international
community to help end the crisis forcing residents to flee Iraq. He called on
the international community "to take action to end the humanitarian
tragedy now underway".
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