Blankets and food sent to Christians fleeing Mosul

By MAZIN YAHYA
posted Oct. 17, 2008

BAGHDAD (AP) — The Iraqi government sent blankets and food Thursday to help thousands of Christians who have fled a violent campaign against them in the northern city of Mosul.

The recent killings in Mosul, widely blamed on al-Qaida in Iraq, coincided with stepped-up lobbying efforts by Christians to ensure their representation in upcoming provincial elections in the primarily Muslim country.

The president of the semiautonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq, Massoud Barzani, said the omission of a minority quota in a recently passed elections law was a "big mistake." He called on parliament to pass a new law that would restore it. the rest