Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Baghdad (Agenzia Fides) - On the afternoon of Monday, July 14 the two Chaldean nuns and three young children - two girls and a boy - who were seized on June 28 last in Mosul, were released. Their captors were linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, Sunni jihadists linked to al-Qaeda). The five - sources of the Chaldean Patriarchate of Baghdad confirm - left Mosul, and returned to Dohuk, in Iraqi Kurdistan. "Sister Atur, Sister Miskinta and the three children are doing well", reported the Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans, Louis Raphael I Sako to Fides Agency, "and their return to freedom is a sign of hope for all, that comforts souls in this difficult period".
The Primate of the Chaldean Church reports to Fides significant details on the five days spent in the hands of those who had kidnapped them: "The nuns and the children" says Patriarch Louis Raphael I, "were kept in a house, they were given food and were not treated badly. During those days they prayed a lot. They recited lauds, vespers and the rosary for their own liberation and for peace in Iraq. We also found out that during the conversations with those who had kidnapped them, the nuns answered with serenity and courage on all the issues raised, giving reason for their hope". The Patriarch confirms that no ransom was paid for their release. The captors took their car, and ransacked the home for orphans run by the nuns.
Due to the offensive of the Sunni insurgents led by Islamist militants of ISILl, which began on June 9, the nuns and all the guests had left the city and had found refuge in the city of Mosul Dohuk. (GV) (Agenzia Fides 15/07/2014)
