A car bomb went off Wednesday in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, killing four civilians, police said. A police officer in Ninevah province conveyed the bomb went off in a parked car in a predominantly Sunni area of this city, where violence has continued against Christians and other religious minorities.
According to the AP, Mosul officials said few of the nearly 10,000 Christians chased from their homes earlier this month are returning to the city. Every Christian family that comes back to Mosul would receive 1 million Iraqi dinars — about $865 — on orders of the prime minister, said Jawdat Ismaeel, a local migration official.
Lt. Gen. Riyadh Jalal Tawfiq, the Iraqi military commander for Ninevah province, said the government was fulfilling its responsibility to "give protection to every family that returns home." According to him, checkpoints and foot patrols were helping to improve the security situation in Mosul. "We urge other families to come back," Tawfiq said. "We will ensure their protection."
In Baghdad, meanwhile, police and hospital officials said three separate blasts killed a sick man being transported in an ambulance and wounded 11 others.
