SANTA ANA, CA (ANS) -- News and information is coming in about a huge increase in violence taking place in the city of Mosul in northern Iraq. According to an Associated Press report, a Christian music store owner was shot to death in Mosul today. Also, in the past week approximately 3,000 Christians have fled the city due to the violence.

Armed Islamic terrorists are walking in the streets and asking pedestrians for his or her identification card. The religion of the owner is written on every ID card, either Muslim or Christian. When “Christian” is read by the terrorists, the owner of the card is sometimes murdered on the spot with a bullet through the head.

Open Doors hears more and more similar persecution stories of this kind from its contacts in the field. Five years ago the city of Mosul had almost 200,000 Christians, but now less than 90,000 are left. And they will be leaving soon too, or will be killed by that time, since it seems that a genocide is occurring in the city. Christians worldwide need to pray for the safety and security of the small group of Christians left in Mosul.

Open Doors received the following urgent email with prayer points from one of its contacts in Iraq:

This email is a prayer request for Iraq, the people in general and especially the city of Mosul (known also as Nineveh) and the Christians there. During the last four to five days around 25 Christians (some say 40) were killed in the streets in different parts of the city for religious and political reasons. In the past people were kidnapped or threatened and needed to pay a ransom to be freed, but now they are being killed without prior notice...and the government has not done anything so far to stop it. Even the media did not cover it until the third day. Many Christians have fled to the nearby villages and cities where they are living under severe conditions – families are sleeping in their cars. Fear and worry fill the place.

Please pray for:

* The terrorists to know the real God.
* That Christians in Mosul, including the nominal ones, draw closer to the Lord.
* The many families who have lost a loved one, their houses or possessions; that they will never forget that no matter what they lose, they still have the place Jesus is preparing for them in heaven.