Date:                March 30, 2007

Murder motive disputed; Iraqi Christians often targeted for money.

by Peter Lamprecht

ISTANBUL, March 30 (Compass Direct News) – The murder of two Christian women in their Kirkuk home this week highlights growing insecurity facing Christians, often targeted for money in war-torn Iraq. Kirkuk Archbishop Louis Sako said that thieves repeatedly stabbed and strangled lay Christians Fadhila Naoum, 85, and Margaret Naoum, 79, after breaking into their house at 7:30 p.m. on Monday evening (March 26). Though Sako said he believed the murders were motivated only by theft, a police official told The Associated Press that he had ruled out the possibility of attempted robbery. Open Doors, a Christian organization working with suffering Christians around the world, said in a recent release that Muslim extremists have worked to expel Christians from certain cities, but said that most Iraqi Christians are targeted because they own shops and are believed to have money. The brutality of the murders and the lack of evidence of theft have led some to believe that the crime may have had religious overtones.