Iraq: Coalition raid devastates church

Church of Virgin Mary, Mosul, Wiki image: 13/12/2013, by Ghazwan Mattoka

On the night between Monday 18 and Tuesday, January 19, air strikes carried out by the international American-led coalition hit the Syriac Orthodox Church dedicated to the Virgin Mary, in the market area of Mosul.

The city was conquered in June 2014 by the so-called Islamic State. The ankawa.com website quotes local sources who say that the church had been occupied by IS. They say the was devastated by the bombing it suffered.

Since IS took over Mosul they have occupied or destroyed over 40 Christian buildings in Mosul, including churches, convents, monasteries, museums and libraries. These include: ten properties of the Syrian Catholic Church; seven of the Syrian Orthodox Church; three churches of the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East; 17 churches and monasteries of the Chaldean Church of Babylon; two Armenian Orthodox churches; one Evangeligal Presyterian church; four Latin churches and monasteries: and the Christian Cemetary in the Ekab Valley, which contains a small chapel.

Source: Fides/Assyrian International News Agency