Islamic State blows up Assyrian church near Iraq's Mosul

PanARMENIAN.Net - Islamic State (IS) extremists demolished an Assyrian church in Iraq’s northwestern Nineveh Governorate on Sunday, October 9. Barbara Fouq Attal Church was situated in the town of Karmlis, near Mosul city, ARA News reports.

“[IS] jihadists detonated a number of explosive devices inside the church on Sunday afternoon,” human rights activist Ghazi Shamoun said. “The church was completely destroyed.”

The Assyrian town of Karmlis and adjacent Christian villages have been completely depopulated since IS invaded Nineveh Governorate in June 2014. Thousands of Christian families fled their hometowns as IS advanced, taking shelter in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Shamoun told ARA News that, IS “terrorists have destroyed dozens of Assyrian churches and archeological sites in Nineveh in a bid to eliminate the historical identity of the area.”

Zuheir Mousilly, a Nineveh-based media activist, told ARA News that after ISIS seized control of Mosul city in 2014, jihadists destroyed many historic sites and monuments. Notably, the Assyrian city of Nimrud, the Winged Bulls, and the Mosul National Museum were demolished.

According to locals, ISIS militants often remove pieces of sculpture in advance to later smuggle abroad and resell.

The list of other buildings destroyed by the group includes Mosul’s Virgin Mary Church (July, 2014), Mar Elia Monastery (August, 2014), Mar Kourkas Church (March, 2015), the Clock Church (April, 2016), and the Armenian Genocide Memorial Church in Deir ez-Zor in neighboring Syria (September, 2014).