Archbishop of Kirkuk Louis Sako said yesterday that 1,000 Christians have been killed in various parts of Iraq since 2003 as a result of acts of violence, and blamed U.S. forces for the deterioration in the situation of the country.
He said that the kidnapping of Christians by thieves and kidnap gangs has increased recently, with the aim of removing all Christians from the country. He said that the number of Christians in Iraq prior to 2003 was 750,000-800,000, but that this figure had declined to about 400,000.
Many of them were forced out of their homes, mainly in the Sunni stronghold city of Mosul (north), and driven either to the Kurdish region or out of the country.
Source: Alsumarianews. September 1, 2010
