Iraqi Christians demand protection from Al-Qaeda

BAGHDAD (AFP) - The leaders of Iraq's Christian minority on Thursday called on the country's beleaguered government to protect their community from attacks by Al Qaeda-inspired Muslim extremists. In a joint statement, Patriarch Mar Dinka IV of the Catholic Assyrian Church of the East and the Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Emmanuel Delly of Babylon said Baghdad's remaining Christians were facing persecution.They blamed the so-called "Islamic State of Iraq", an alliance of Islamist insurgent groups that serves as an Al-Qaeda front, for much of the violence."Christians in a number of Iraqi regions, especially those under the control of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq, have faced blackmail, kidnapping and displacement," the statement said.The churchmen expressed surprise that Al-Qaeda's influence has "reached parts of Baghdad while the government has kept silent and not taken a firm stance to stop their expansion."
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