Calling the Attention of the World to the Targeting of the Assyrian Students in Iraq
Tuesday
ACSSU Public Relations
On Sunday May 2nd, during the morning commute to school, a large group of Assyrian Christian (also known as Chaldean and Syriac) students were targeted in coordinated blasts targeting their buses. In all, and according to the latest tallies, over 100 casualties have been reported with the number killed escalating due to critical injuries. The students were travelling in a convoy from their villages and towns in the Nineveh Plain to the University of Mosul. Mosul is the capital of the Ninewah province, about 350 Km North of Baghdad, and is the center of the ancient Assyrian empire, as well as home to hundreds of thousands of Assyrians today.
This is not the first attack of its kind against innocent students in Mosul where the central government has not provided adequate protection or safeguard measures against such acts of terrorism. Christian students continue to be victims of unjustified and targeted attacks of what appears to be the result of partisan political agendas.
We, the Assyrian Chaldean Syriac Student Union of Canada, strongly condemn these cowardly and unjustified terrorist acts and ask the Iraqi government and the local authorities to take action and put in place adequate security measures to protect religious and ethnic minorities. A democratic Iraq must mean a serious attack on all forms of violence directed at a specific and identifiable ethnic and religious group. These crimes against innocent civilians must not go unpunished and without investigation. We also urge the international community along with non-governmental organizations dedicated to the protection of human rights to bring the plight of the vulnerable minorities of Iraq to light through an independent investigation commission.
We commend the strength and courage of our counterparts in Iraq in the face of such atrocious acts and brutality. We have not and shall never forget your plight as we stand in solidarity with you. We ask God for a speedy recovery of all those injured and the deceased to rest in peace.
Assyrian Chaldean Syriac Student Union of Canada