Iraq: Mother of Two Murdered Christian Sisters Dies

The woman had been injured in the November 12th assault on her home during which her two daughters Lamia and WalĂ a were killed.

MOSUL (AsiaNews) - The mother of two sisters killed in Mosul last week has died from injuries sustained during the attack on her family home. The funerals were celebrated yesterday.

November 12th last, a band of armed youths stormed the Siro-Catholic family's home in the Alqahira quarter of the city killing the sisters Lamia and WalĂ a Sobhy Salloha. They then turned on the mother with a knife. The father and another son who escaped during the moment of the attack are safe. Initially the wounds sustained by the mother, Selma Giargis did not appear to be grave. But in the hospital in Mosul her condition worsened also because of a lack in basic medicine.

The situation of Mosul's Christians is increasingly tragic. In the month of October 16 faithful were killed and 2 thousand families forced to flee their homes. Over the past few day san estimated 700 families have returned, reassured by government promises of improved security. 52 year old Imad Hanna, told Ankawa, that he had fled to Karakosh, Kurdistan, 50-60 km north of Mosul. "What made me return - he said - wasn't the security situation, but material need".

Imad recounts that the people in Mosul "are terrified" in the wake of the killings. The murder of the two sisters and their mother has left a deep impression on them because the assassins were able to penetrate their home, rendering every safe haven insecure.