U.S. embassy denounces assault on Ninewa civilians

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The U.S. embassy in Baghdad condemned on Tuesday recent assaults on Iraqi civilians in the provinces of Baghdad and Ninewa, stressing the coalition forces’ support for the Iraqi security forces to protect them. “Dispatching an additional police force, some of whom received training by the Multi-National Force – Iraq, would help restore security to the civilians in the tense province of Ninewa,” according to an embassy release received by IraqiNews.com. Attacks targeting Christians in Mosul were escalated during the past few days, prompting a number of them to flee to the city’s peripheries. Several sources said that a number of Christian families have already escaped from Mosul while others were slain by armed groups. The U.S. embassy praised the measures taken by the Iraqi government to enhance security in Ninewa province, welcoming the support expressed by the Iraqi prime minister’s office and other statements by senior officials in which they called for ending these “fierce atrocities” and also their commitments that the security forces would “protect all Iraqi citizens without any discrimination”. An official spokesman for the Ninewa Operations Command (NOC), Brig. Khaled Abdelsattar, had said on Monday that Iraqi army soldiers were massively deployed in the areas of Mosul where Christian citizens reside and set up checkpoints and round-the-clock mobile patrols to protect them from any possible aggression. “Representatives from the United States are in constant contacts with a number of different groups in Ninewa. International humanitarian organizations had responded to the Ninewa displaced families’ pressing needs through funds from the United States and international donors,” said Abdelsattar. AmR (S) 1