(July 07,2010) In Iraq, another Christian has been killed in Mosul, considered the
most dangerous city in the country. 54-year-old Behnam Sabti, a Syrian Orthodox,
was killed Monday by a bomb placed under his car. The man worked as a nurse at the
state Jumhuriya hospital in Mosul. Local sources, anonymous for security reasons,
told AsiaNews, they are convinced that the motive of the murder was the man’s religious
identity. Married with three children, he will be buried in Bashiqa Kemal, his native
village in the north. According to the latest data, released in June by the Iraqi
ministries for Defence, Health and the Interior, violence has declined on a national
scale. Nevertheless, people are still living in fear. The number of Iraqis killed
violently in June, fell to 284 compared with 437 the same month in 2009. In what
is now the “Al Qaeda stronghold in Mesopotamia," two types of violence take place,
terrorism directed against the locals - mostly Shia - and minorities, and jihadist
violence targeting American troops and their allies of the Iraqi security forces.
The streets of Mosul are patrolled by the U.S. military. About 18 Iraqi army battalions
are deployed throughout the city, along with hundreds of police and checkpoints. Nevertheless,
the situation remains highly uncertain, as revealed by the same American officials.