Unknown gunmen kill 1 Christian in Ninewa

NINEWA, IraqiNews.com: Unknown gunmen on Wednesday shot dead a Christian in the northern volatile province of Ninewa, a police source said. “A Christian civilian was killed when unknown gunmen shot him near his house in al-Tamim district, east Mosul,” a Ninewa police source said.   Earlier, police reported on Tuesday three Christian were killed in a similar type of attack.   Meanwhile, the police source said “three Iraqi soldiers were wounded by a roadside bomb that went off against their patrol in al-Maaridh district, east Mosul”.   Mosul, the provincial capital of Ninewa, 400 km north Baghdad, is viewed by U.S. and Iraqi authorities as one of the last remaining al-Qaida strongholds in Iraq. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered a two-phase military crackdown in the northern city in May.   Ninewa officials said the gains from these operations, however, have disintegrated as militant groups re-entered the city there due to an insufficient number of Iraqi troops to maintain security following operations in May. AM(S) 1