Kidnapping of Roman Catholic archbishop

A Roman Catholic archbishop in &to= english.pravda.ru/accidents/2003/04/16/45967.html ' target=_blank>Mosul, Iraq, has been kidnapped, the Vatican said Monday. It identified the kidnapped man as Archbishop Basile Georges Casmoussa, 66, of the Syrian Catholic Church, one of the branches of the &to= english.pravda.ru/society/2002/07/05/31890.html ' target=_blank>Roman Catholic Church. Mosul is a northern Iraqi city that in recent months has been a hotspot of violent insurgency. The reason for the kidnapping was unclear, but Christians — tens of thousands of whom live in and around Mosul — have been subjected to attacks in the past. Christians make up just 3 percent of Iraq's 26 million people. The major Christian groups in Iraq include Chaldean-Assyrians and &to= english.pravda.ru/society/2002/10/07/37834.html ' target=_blank>Armenians. There are small numbers of Roman Catholics, informs Fox News. According to ABC News, officials estimate that as many as 15,000 &to= english.pravda.ru/world/2001/12/27/24557.html' target=_blank>Iraqi Christians have left the country since August, when four churches in Baghdad and one in Mosul were attacked in a coordinated series of car bombings. The attacks killed 12 people and injured 61 others.

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