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Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Mosul Celebrates First Post-Islamic State Christmas

Mosul Celebrates First Post-Islamic State Christmas
Iraqi security forces stand guard as Christians attend a Christmas Eve service at the Mar Shimoni church in the town of Bartalla near Mosul on December 24, 2016 for the first time since its recapture from Islamic State (IS) jihadists. IS seized Bartalla and swathes of other territory north and west of Baghdad in the summer of 2014, leaving Christians with the grim choices of conversion, paying a tax, fleeing or death. The town was recaptured as part of the massive military operation to retake Mosul, the last IS-held Iraqi city, which was launched on October 17. / AFP / SAFIN HAMED (Photo credit should read SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images)

Tens of thousands of Christians fled a northern Iraqi town in 2014 as the Islamic State group seized Mosul and swaths of the Nineveh province.  But Iraqi forces expelled the jihadists from the city this year, allowing Christians to return to pray at St. Paul's church in Mosul.  Hymns filled a church in Iraq's second city Mosul as worshippers celebrated Christmas for the first time in four years.  Click on the above link to read the story.

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