July 22, 2014
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s prime minister on Sunday condemned the Islamic State extremist group’s actions targeting Christians in territory it controls, saying they reveal the threat the jihadists pose to the minority community’s “centuries-old heritage.”
The comments from Nouri al-Maliki come a day after the expiration of a deadline imposed by the Islamic State group calling on Christians in the militant-held city of Mosul to convert to Islam, pay a tax of face death. Most Christians opted to flee to the nearby self-rule Kurdish region or other areas protected by Kurdish security forces.
FILE – In this Monday, June 23, 2014 file photo, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki meets with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Baghdad. Iraq’s Shiite prime minister on Wednesday, June 25, 2014 rejected calls to form an interim “national salvation government” that critics say would allow the country’s squabbling sects to quickly present a unified front in the face of a growing threat by Sunni militants who have seized several cities this month. (AP Photo/Brendan Smialowski, Pool, File)
“What is being done by the Daesh terrorist gang against our Christian citizens in Ninevah province, and their aggression against the churches and houses of worship in the areas under their control reveals beyond any doubt the extremist criminal and terrorist nature of this group,” al-Maliki said in a statement released by his office, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.
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