LONDON (ANS) -- Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki has vowed to protect Christians in Mosul after 1,000 police were deployed in the wake of sectarian attacks in the northern city.

BBC News reported that Mosul's provincial governor said hundreds of Christian families had fled the city in the past week to seek refuge in outlying villages.

Sunni militants have been blamed for the murders of 12 Christians over the past fortnight.

Th BBC said that Pope Benedict XVI, speaking at the Vatican, condemned the bloodshed.

“I urge the perpetrators of violence to renounce these acts and join with their brothers and sisters to work together in building a civilization of love,” the pontiff said.

The BBC reported that after talks with Christian Iraqi officials, the Shia prime minister said in a statement, “We will take immediate action to resolve the problems and difficulties faced by Christians in Mosul.”

According to the BBC, an AFP correspondent said police had set up checkpoints at churches in Mosul's four largely Christian areas and were patrolling the streets on foot.

The BBC said that a major operation by security forces aimed at displacing insurgents has been under way for months in Mosul, which is considered by US and Iraqi commanders as the last urban stronghold of al-Qaeda in Iraq.

But a BBC reporter in Baghdad said that, unlike similar campaigns in the Iraqi capital and Basra, the situation in Mosul seems to be getting worse.

There were estimated to be around 800,000 Christians in Iraq in 2003, when coalition forces entered the country, but at least one-third of the community is believed to have fled abroad.

Jeremy Reynalds is a freelance writer and the founder and CEO of Joy Junction, New Mexico's largest emergency homeless shelter, http://www.joyjunction.org He has a master's degree in communication from the University of New Mexico, and a Ph.D. in intercultural education from Biola University in Los Angeles. His newest book is "The Face of Homelessness." Additional details are available at http://www.HomelessBook.com. Reynalds' upcoming book is "We All Need a Little Help." It will be released on October 3 2008. He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. For more information contact: Jeremy Reynalds at jeremyreynalds@comcast.net. Tel: (505) 400-7145. Note: A higher resolution JPEG picture of Jeremy Reynalds is available on request from Dan Wooding at danjuma1@aol.com.