TerrorismTens of thousands flee as ISIS militants seize Iraq's largest Christian town
The largest Christian towns in Iraq — Qaraqosh, Tal Kayf, Bartella, and Karamlesh — emptied of their original populations as Jihadist ISIS fighters take control. Tens of thousands of the towns’ residents have fled to the autonomous Kurdish region. The towns were captured by Kurdish peshmerga forces at the same time that ISIS forces from Syria came down from Syria and captured the Sunni Anbar province to the west. Kurdish commanders said the Kurdish forces were over-stretched, and that they had to withdraw from the Christian towns in order to be better prepared for the coming drive east by ISIS militants.
ISIS Jihadists have taken control of Iraq’s largest Christian town, Qaraqosh, and the surrounding areas, causing tens of thousands of people living in the region to flee to the autonomous Kurdistan.
The Islamist militants moved into the towns overnight following the withdrawal of Kurdish peshmerga troops. The Kurdish troops, who captured the area when ISIS fighters moved down from Syria and took over the Sunni Anbar province, were over-stretched, and their commanders decided to concentrate the troops in preparation for an ISIS assault.
“I now know that the towns of Qaraqosh, Tal Kayf, Bartella and Karamlesh have been emptied of their original population and are now under the control of the militants,” Joseph Thomas, the Chaldean archbishop of Kirkuk and Sulaimaniyah, told AFP.
The Guardian reports that Qaraqosh is an entirely Christian town that lies between Mosul, the jihadists’ main hub in Iraq, and Arbil, the Kurdish region’s capital. It usually has a population of around 50,000.
“It’s a catastrophe, a tragic situation. We call on the UN security council to immediately intervene. Tens of thousands of terrified people are being displaced as we speak, it cannot be described,” the archbishop said.
Tal Kayf, home to a significant Christian community as well as members of the Shabak Shia minority, also emptied overnight.
“Tal Kayf is now in the hands of the Islamic State. They faced no resistance and rolled in
just after midnight,” Boutros Sargon, a resident who fled the town and is no in Arbil, told the Guardian by phone.
“I heard some gunshots last night and when I looked outside, I saw a military convoy from the Islamic State. They were shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ [God is greatest],” he said.
