Iraqi Christian student found dead

Fourth Christian killed in as many days in northern Iraq amid rising violence ahead of elections.

MOSUL, Iraq - A Christian student was found dead in the main northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Wednesday, the fourth in as many days, amid warnings of rising violence ahead of March 7 polls.

The bullet-riddled body of Wissam George, a 20-year-old Assyrian Christian, was recovered on a street in the south Mosul residential neighborhood of Wadi al-Ain at around 1:00 pm (1000 GMT).

"George went missing this morning on his way to his institute, he was studying to be a teacher," said a police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity.

George is the fourth Christian to be killed in the city since Sunday.

On Tuesday, a gunman killed 21-year-old engineering student Zia Toma and wounded 22-year-old pharmacy student Ramsin Shmael, both Assyrian Christians.

Greengrocer Fatukhi Munir was gunned down inside his shop in a drive-by shooting late on Monday, and armed assailants killed Rayan Salem Elias, a Chaldean, outside his home on Sunday.

The March parliamentary elections are seen as a key test of reconciliation in Iraq, which has been wracked by sectarian hostilities since the US-led invasion of 2003.

Attacks occur frequently in Mosul and surrounding Nineveh province.

In late 2008, 40 Christians were killed in Mosul.

Since the US-led invasion of 2003 more than 200 Christians had been killed by direct or indirect attacks in Iraq.

During the same period, some estimates put the figure of fatalities of Muslim Iraqis (mostly Sunnis and Shiites) to over one million innocent civilians.

Attacks on Christians had increased in the north of Iraq after the formation of the country’s first Christian militia.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=37292.