Mosul notables committed to protect Christians – source

NINEWA / IraqiNews.com: Notables of some neighborhoods in Mosul city expressed commitment to protect and defend Christians from any attacks, a media source from the Assyrian Democratic Movement said on Saturday, adding five Christian families practically returned to the city. “Christian families that fled the city in recent days expressed readiness to return to the city starting from Sunday,” the source told IraqiNews.com. “In fact five families already returned to Mosul today afternoon,” he said. The Assyrian Democratic Movement is a Christian political entity headed by lawmaker Yonadim Kena. For its part, an organization called Jihad & Change Front announced in a release received by IraqiNews.com that “it rejects armed activities that target Christians in Mosul “. “These activities are yet another episode in the series of defaming the resistance, and attributing to it everything that is far from the principles of Islam and the meanings of patriotism and sound human behavior,” it added. The Jihad & Change Front, consisting of eight armed groups, was formed in September 2007. Yesterday, a media source from the Movement in Ninewa said that some 295 Christian families fled the city of Mosul during the past three days, while an Iraqi military source said that four Christians were killed in two separate attacks in Mosul , recording a rising wave of attacks against the religious minority in the northern volatile city. Mosul , the capital city of Ninewa province, lies 405 km north of Baghdad . MH (S)/AmR 1