Mosul a Christian student killed, community denounces "politicized massacre"
Mosul (AsiaNews) - More Christian blood shed in Mosul in northern Iraq. This morning an armed commando killed a young university student and wounded a friend who was at the place of the attack. The umpteenth targeted attack against the community is just the latest in a long streak of blood, a short distance from where the double murder of two traders took place and the kidnapping of a man, on 13 February.
The victim is Zayia Thomas, a student of the Faculty of Engineering, the University of Mosul. The young man was gunned down and shot dead in the neighbourhood of al-Tahrir. Ramsen Shamyael of the faculty of pharmacy, who with his friend was going to university, was also wounded in the attack.
Christian sources for AsiaNews in Mosul speak of "atmosphere of panic that reigns among Christians”, many of whom "have closed their shops and do not leave their houses any more". People are barricaded behind the walls of their homes, fearing a repetition of such attacks. "Many other people - says the source, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons - leave the city for villages in the plain of Nineveh”.
"Before the elections - adds a faithful of Mosul – they want to empty the city of Christians." The community, which feels increasingly alone and abandoned, denounces the silence of the central and local government, in Baghdad. "It's a politicized and well-organized massacre," adds the source for AsiaNews, which seems to confirm what was said earlier by a high profile Christian politician of Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan. "The attacks in Baghdad in the recent past - said the political leader - are also related to the project to pen the Christian community into one single area." (DS)
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