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Baghdad: Iraq on Sunday deployed nearly 1,000 policemen to Mosul to protect Christians fleeing violence in the country, the government said.
Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Karim Khalaf said two brigades were sent to Christian areas in the northern Iraqi city.
Nearly 1,000 Christian families have fled their homes in the city since Friday, taking shelter on the outskirts of Nineveh province.
Mosul has witnessed a wave of assassinations by Al Qaida targeting the Christian minority in the past week, Brigadier General Khalid Abdul Sattar told Gulf News.
At least three homes of Christians were blown up by unidentified attackers on Saturday and at least 11 Christians have died in attacks since September 28.
"The extremists' goal behind such actions is to disrupt the social fabric of the city of Mosul, where Christians and Muslims have peacefully coexisted for years," Sattar said.
There were around 800,000 Christians in Iraq in 2003, but that number has dwindled down to a third as more Christians fled the country.
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