Christian militia patrol Iraq city taken from IS

(12 Nov 2016) The Nineveh Plain Protection Units, or NPU, are one of three Christian militias protecting the Iraqi city of Qaraqosh. Qaraqosh, the biggest Christian town on the Nineveh plains in Iraq's north, fell to the Islamic State group (IS) in 2014 and was retaken by Iraqi government forces this week. Militants continue to resist Iraqi forces on the town's outskirts. Assyrian Christians, many of whom speak a variant of Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus and his disciples, once constituted a significant minority in Iraq. However their numbers have dwindled in recent years as many have emigrated to escape long-standing discrimination. When IS spread across northern Iraq in the summer of 2014, Assyrian Christians were brutally targeted and thousands of members of the community were displaced from their homes, fleeing to Kurdish-controlled areas. The Nineveh plains is home to a large Christian minority, mostly Assyrians and Chaldeans, most of whom fled the advance of IS when the area fell to the militants two-and-a-half years ago. Many of them live in displaced people's camps in Iraq's Kurdish north, while others have emigrated to the West. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/fcb690c46cbdd6e09b7a8d38824bd77d Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork