Iraqis mark Palm Sunday near Mosul for first time in three years

[TomSea]

Iraqis mark Palm Sunday near Mosul for first time in three years
Christians packed a church in an Iraqi town after it was burned to the ground by the Islamic State group

Hundreds of Christians flocked to the Iraqi town of Qaraqosh on Sunday to celebrate Palm Sunday for the first time in three years, packing into a church torched by the Islamic State group to take communion at its ruined altar.

In October, Iraqi forces expelled the Sunni Muslim militants from Qaraqosh as part of a campaign to retake nearby Mosul, the country's second-largest city seized by the group in June 2014.

Iraq's biggest Christian settlement until the militants arrived, Qaraqosh has been a ghost town as most residents are still too afraid to come back with the battle for Mosul, located 20km away, still raging.

But on Sunday church bells rang again across the town.

Continued: http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/iraqis-celebrate-palm-sunday-near-mosul-first-time-three-years-615926048

[Sanguine]

God bless them!