BAGHDAD — Cars and trucks loaded with suitcases, mattresses and passengers cradling baskets stuffed with clothes lined up at checkpoints Monday to flee Mosul, a day after the month’s 10th killing of an Iraqi Christian in the northern city.
Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but local leaders have blamed al-Qaeda in Iraq, which maintains influence in the region despite an ongoing U.S.-Iraqi military operation launched in May.
The latest victim was a music-store owner who was gunned down Sunday at work in an attack that left his teenage nephew wounded, according to police and a neighbor.
Farques Batool, who was in his 50s, had refused to join other Christians fleeing the city because he needed to care for his family, his mother and the family of his dead brother, the neighbor said..
With the killing of at least 10 Christians this month alone, according to police, thousands have abandoned their homes in Mosul to seek refuge in churches and with nearby relatives or in relatively safe Kurd ish-controlled areas nearby.
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 surge was unclear, but it coincides with lobbying by Christian leaders for restoration of a quota system to give religious minorities seats on provincial councils.
