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UP TO 10,000 people have fled a mostly Christian town in northern Iraq after it was shelled with mortars, former residents and the UN’s refugee agency said today.
Residents of Qara Qosh, east of the militant-held city of Mosul in Nineveh province, left in a rush and had little time to take their possessions, with most fleeing to the Kurdish regional capital Arbil, the UNHCR said.
“Up to 10,000 people from the predominantly Christian communities of Qara Qosh have fled their homes after mortar rounds landed near their ancient town earlier this week,” the UN agency said on its website.
The latest influx will place further pressure on resources there, particularly housing and fuel supplies.
The autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq has already seen an influx of people fleeing a Sunni militant offensive, led by jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), that has swept parts of the country.
Those who fled Qara Qosh had no access to showers or air conditioning, worsening already difficult conditions in Iraq’s scorching summer heat, the UNHCR said, adding many were concerned about a lack of medical care.
The UNHCR and fleeing residents interviewed by AFP said heavy shelling of Qara Qosh and the surrounding area of Hamdaniyah from neighbouring villages had forced them to leave.
It was not immediately clear who carried out the mortar shelling.
Children afraid, adults escape
“Our children did not sleep for two days because they were afraid from the shelling,” said Azaar Behnam, who was sitting near her five children in a youth centre in Arbil where those who fled were being sheltered.
“We escaped and left everything behind because the sound was really terrible, and life became impossible.”
Other residents of the Hamdaniyah area interviewed by AFP gave similar accounts.
“The weather was very hot, we were suffering, and there was no electricity or water,” said Taala Ishaq, a 65-year-old who fled with 24 relatives, including 18 grandchildren.
We left the city because we were afraid for our children.
The population of Qara Qosh is mostly Syriac Catholic, and security forces in the town have long been drawn from local Christians.
A Christian militia also reports to the police and provides security for churches and church property.
Iraq’s Christian community is a shadow of what it once was — it once numbered more than a million, but now there are fewer than 400,000 Christians left across the country.
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out of the 253 incidents, how many were carried out by foreign nationals?.
Are u taking the piss.
David, I don`t think Ando is taking the piss. This activity seems to be the exclusive domain of foreign nationals. I don`t know the set up, but a check of the stats will show you that nearly all of those caught at this ATM game are of Eastern European origin. That is not a racist remark, simply the facts.
How does it matter?
David, care to provide source of your statistics?
Maybe he asked Homer Simpson…. Seems to work for Danny.
Where you get your stats is a valid question…so where did they come from???
Do u not mean ando???
Plus I believe it was irish low lives that crashed a JCB into a shop and stole the whole ATM.
In 2006, I was at a seminar on ATM Security and Fraud.The speaker (Head of Security for a major Irish Bank) stated that 9 out of 10 devices found on machines were traced back to an Eastern European or Russian crime syndicate.We were informed that some of the devices, that are extremely high tech, are worth €250,000 euro each!Many of the guys who plant them on the machines have been people trafficked into Ireland and to repay their exorbitant travel costs, they must attach and collect data from ‘skimming’ machines!The other ‘skimming’ machines (1 in 10) that were found were far more crudely made and attributed to Nigerian crime outfits.
So going by what this guy told us, in 2006, 100% of ATM ‘skimming’ machines were foreign made and owned. Maybe this has changed and other nationalities (including Irish) have taken up what is a highly lucrative activity estimated to be worth anywhere between €3.5 and €10 million every year!
One word…Romanians
One word: Romani. Romanians and Romani quite difference, ignorant heads will never comprehend. In Romania there is lot of decent hard working people (in Ireland too), these are gypsies from Romania that give them bad name and awful presence all over the world.
@dirpaddy.. I have been to Romania and they are a lovely race of people who are sick to death of people like you who confuse them with Roma.. have you ever met a real Romania as opposed to a Roma? it’s very hard to spot a Romanian person a they just look continental.. of all the countries I have visited in Europe Romania was the biggest suprise, its a bit backward but the people are friendly charming and very kind.
Gents,
You should know well by now that you cannot say a word about anyone from abroad because you will be immediately accused of not being a happy-clappy multiculturalist.
That we all know the answer is not enough.
its simply not PC to talk about foreigners ( yes, there, I said it, the F word !!) and their involvement in anything, other than religious festivals and projects run by women with double-barrelled surnames
Ah come on The journal, ATM Machine? Really? Automated Teller Machine Machine? like pin number? pcb board?
@Brian @Ando
Yeah sure, everything bad in this country is because of foreigners. They steal your jobs, they steal from your atm’s, they steal your women, etc. etc. :-)
To be bit more serious, I doubt there are any statistics showing what you are suggesting, most likely these stats are nothing more than a product of your prejudiced imagination.
In fact there were few news in past year or two saying about some eat european gangs skimming ATM’s in Ireland, but I don’t think there is more info than just that. And reason for it is probably only that Irish thugs didn’t have technology that other thugs brought in, not that they were so noble they decided not to ever touch any ATM’s… You want to comment, get your facts right, otherwise you just create biassed lies.
@Derek Marten
OK, thanks for that info, but even knowing these facts, what difference that makes who they are?
If somebody can afford 250K worth skimming equipment, they are not average guys, but mafia.
I’ve googled couple other news from around the world about ATM skimming that took places all over the world, and indeed they quite often mention Bulgarian, Serbian and Russian involvement, whether that be USA or France or Ireland.
However these are clearly people not linked with any East European minorities living in Ireland or any other country, but they are professional criminal groups doing their “jobs” all over the world. Suggestions made here in couple comments were quite obviously made towards East Eur. immigrants leaving in Ireland like they were to blame. Believe me that east E.U. people bank accounts were robbed too, I doubt criminals were doing refunds for non English sounding names :P
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