Church in the World

All Iraqi minorities under threat

Iraq

When suicide bombers in the Iraqi town of Qahataniya last week murdered more than 400 Yazidis, members of a small but ancient religious sect, one US military official pointedly called it "an act of ‘ethnic cleansing", writes Timothy Lavin.

His assessment echoed the fears of other minority groups in Iraq, many of whom interpreted the attack, the deadliest of the war so far, as part of a broader and more terrifying trend: one piece of a campaign by Islamic extremists to drive minorities out of the country, or even to eradicate all of them entirely.

"Last week's attack was the single most deadly attack in Iraq since 2003, and clearly targeted at one particular group," said Clive Baldwin, the director of international advocacy for the Minority Rights Group.

"However, it is only part of a pattern of harassment and violence towards Iraq's smaller minority groups, not only Yazidis, but also other ancient religions such as the Mandeans and the 2,000-year-old Christian communities. MRG has recorded at length the attacks on these groups which risk driving many of them out of Iraq after, in some cases, 4,000 years," said Mr Baldwin.