ICC Note: As ICC reported yesterday, two nuns kidnapped two weeks ago along with three others were released on Monday without the payment of ransom. They were believed to have been kidnapped by ISIS, a Muslim extremist group currently in control of the Nineveh Province in Iraq. The two Sisters ran an all-girl orphanage in Mosul before the violent takeover began forcing Christians to flee to safer towns. While it is a blessing that these nuns and the girls from the orphanage have been released safely, many other Christians have been targeted, persecuted, and even killed.
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ICC has launched a campaign to provide aid to the Iraqi church to assist those in need who have fled from the attacks. Go here to find out more and donate: Iraqi Crisis Response
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07/16/14 Iraq (Christian Today) – Two nuns and three other Assyrians kidnapped in Iraq three weeks ago have been released.
Reportedly, the five kidnap victims were released without the payment of a ransom and are in Dohuk, Iraq.
Sister Miskintah, Sister Utoor Joseph, Hala Salim, Sarah Khoshaba, and Aram Sabah had not been heard from since they returned to Mosul to check on an abandoned orphanage on June 28. The Nineveh Province capital fell to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) terrorist group weeks ago.
The Chaldean nuns ran the all-girl orphanage near Miskintah Church in Khazraj, Mosul. The women and children escaped to Dohuk when ISIS ravaged the city, but five of them returned to Mosul, where they were last seen.
The Assyrian media reported that the women had possibly been kidnapped by ISIS.
The Sunni Muslim extremists have persecuted, raped and killed Christians and Shiite Muslims across Iraq and Syria. Churches and Shiite shrines have been bombed, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have fled the area because of the violence.
The Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, Louis Raphael Sako of Baghdad, Archbishop Yohanna Petros Mouche of Mosul, and Bishop Youssif Mirkis of Kirkuk convened on July 9 to discuss how to stop the persecution of Christians at the hand of ISIS. The meetings were held in Belgium and organised by Aid to the Church in Need, a Catholic charity.
Sako said that if something is not done soon, the area’s Christians will be wiped out.
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