Iraqis robbed fleeing Islamic conversion deadline

In this Sunday, July 20, 2014 photo, newly-arrived displaced Christians wait for relief aid at a church in the town of Hamadaniya, 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of Mosul, Iraq. Iraqi Christians have been fleeing from the northern city of Mosul in the wake of threats from Islamic State militants who took the city in a blitz offensive last month. The militants imposed a deadline Saturday for Christians to convert to Islam, pay a tax or face death.  (AP Photo)
In this Sunday, July 20, 2014 photo, newly-arrived displaced Christians wait for relief aid at a church in the town of Hamadaniya, 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of Mosul, Iraq. Iraqi Christians have been fleeing from the northern city of Mosul in the wake of threats from Islamic State militants who took the city in a blitz offensive last month. The militants imposed a deadline Saturday for Christians to convert to Islam, pay a tax or face death. (AP Photo)

IRBIL, Iraq -- Iraqi Christians who fled Mosul rather than convert to Islam by a deadline imposed by extremists said Tuesday that they had to leave most of their belongings behind and gunmen stole much of what they did manage to take along.

The comments paint a dire picture of life for the ancient community that has long struggled to survive in the midst of a mainly Muslim country.

Most Christians left Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, after the Islamic State extremist group and other Sunni militants captured the city June 10 -- the opening move in the insurgents' blitz across northern and western Iraq. As a religious minority group, Christians were wary of how they would be treated by hard-line Islamic militants.

Some remained, but the numbers have dwindled further after the militants gave them a deadline of Saturday to convert to Islam, pay a tax or face death. That was the final straw for many, including Zaid Qreqosh Ishaq, 27, who fled with his family to the relatively safe self-rule Kurdish region.

"We had to go through an area where they had set up a checkpoint," he said. Islamic State militants "asked us to get out of the car. We got out. They took ... our things, our bags, our money, everything we had on us."

Like so many of those who fled Mosul, Ishaq's family took refuge at the St. Joseph Church in the northern Kurdish city of Irbil. But they may be forced to move to camps that have been set up for the flood of Iraqis trying to escape the violence.

"I don't know what is going to happen to us," Ishaq said. "Our future is uncertain."

The United Nations said Sunday that at least 400 families from Mosul -- including other religious and ethnic minority groups -- had sought refuge in the northern provinces of Irbil and Dohuk.

Mosul is home to some of the most ancient Christian communities, but the number of Christians has dropped since the outbreak of sectarian violence that began after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein.

About 25 Christian families remain in the city, said Duraid Hikmat, an official with the Ninenveh governor's office. Most of the people who stayed behind could not travel for medical reasons and have found sanctuary in the homes of their Muslim neighbors, he added.

Noel Ibrahim, who fled Mosul last week with his family, said gunmen from the Islamic State group stopped cars and stole cash and gold jewelry from the women.

"One of the gunmen told us, 'You can leave now, but do not ever dream of returning to Mosul again,'" Ibrahim said.

Irbil's governor, Nawzad Hadi, has pledged to protect fleeing Christians and other minority groups. The territory is currently home to more than 2 million refugees and internally displaced people from Iraq and Syria, according to the U.N.

Meanwhile, the Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order -- a collection of former members of Saddam's now-outlawed Baath party who are said to be helping the Islamic State in its conquests -- disassociated itself from violence against Iraq's minority groups.

"Our army is an extension of the former national Iraqi army and includes all the factions of the Iraqi people such as Sunnis, Shiites, Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen as well as Christians, Yazdis and Sabeans who want to liberate Iraq and relieve it from subordination," the group said in a message posted on its official website Tuesday. "We don't have any connection or coordination with any group ... which calls for dividing Iraq and its people on ethnic and sectarian basis."

The Islamic State has vowed to continue its offensive on to Baghdad after overrunning Iraq's predominantly Sunni areas. The country's government has been unable to launch an effective counteroffensive against the militants, and politicians are still struggling to form a government after April elections.

On Tuesday, a suicide driver rammed his explosive-laden car into a police checkpoint in the Iraqi capital, killing 21 people, including more than a dozen civilians on their way to a Shiite shrine in the final days of the Islamic holy month.

At least 13 people killed in the attack were civilians, police and hospital officials said. At least 35 people were wounded -- more than half of them civilians. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak with the media.

Information for this article was contributed by Maeva Bambuck, Vivian Salama, Sinan Salaheddin and Qassim Abdul-Zahra of The Associated Press.

A Section on 07/23/2014

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