IRAQ: CHRISTIAN BUSINESSMAN KILLED IN MOSUL
By Kim Gamel

St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The Associated Press
10/14/2008
United States

BAGHDAD — The music store owner had too many mouths to feed to
consider joining other Iraqi Christians fleeing from violence in
Mosul. The decision cost him his life as he became at least the 10th
Christian slaughtered by suspected Sunni extremists in the northern
city so far this month.

Gunmen stormed into Farques Batool’s store late Sunday in an eastern
part of the city, killing him and wounding his teenage nephew,
according to police and a neighbor.

Batool, an Armenian Christian, was supporting his mother, his wife,
a daughter, as well as the family of his dead brother, according to
his neighbor.

"He was a very kind man who refused to leave Mosul and insisted on
staying to take care of his family," Raid Bahnam said. The family fled
the city after his death, leaving his wounded nephew in the hospital.

They joined thousands of other Christians who have abandoned their
homes in Mosul to seek refuge in churches and with relatives in
neighboring villages or in relatively safe Kurdish-controlled areas
nearby.

Cars and trucks loaded with suitcases, mattresses and passengers
cradling baskets stuffed with clothing lined up Monday at a checkpoint
about 20 miles east of the city on their way to safety.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but local leaders
have blamed al-Qaida in Iraq, which maintains influence in the region
despite an ongoing U.S.-Iraqi military operation launched in May.

Islamic extremists have frequently targeted Christians and other
religious minorities since the 2003 U.S. invasion, forcing tens of
thousands to flee Iraq — although attacks slowed with a nationwide
decline in violence.

The reason for the latest surge in attacks was unclear. But it
coincides with strong lobbying by Christian leaders for Iraq’s
parliament to restore a quota system to give religious minorities
seats on provincial councils that will be chosen by voters before
the end of January.

U.N. special representative Staffan de Mistura strongly condemned
"the spike in violence that has targeted the Christian communities
in recent days" and warned the attacks were seeking to "fuel tensions
and exacerbate instability at a critical time."

Chaldean Archbishop Louis Sako of the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk
denounced "a campaign of liquidation and violence, with political
objectives."