BAGHDAD (UPI) -- Kurdish and Iraqi forces conducted joint patrols in Diyala province in a sign of growing civility, while Christians face threats in the wake of a U.S. deadline.U.S. Army Gen. Ray Odierno, who commands U.S. and international forces in Iraq, presented commendations to Iraqi and Kurdish soldiers who took part in a combined military operation, the U.S. military reports.
Analysts had predicted that tensions between the central government in Baghdad and the Kurdish Regional Government could push Iraq back toward civil war if left unresolved prior to the departure of U.S. forces.
U.S. combat troops under the terms of a bilateral security agreement with Baghdad pulled back to their military bases June 30. The level of violence in Iraq has increased in the period surrounding the deadline, with ethnic and sectarian attacks mounting.
In the latest spate of violence, six churches in the Baghdad area were attacked during the weekend, which the Voices of Iraq news agency reports claimed at least four lives and injured more than 30.
Meanwhile, a bomb injured three children at a Christian church in the northern city of Mosul on Monday.
Attacks on the Christian minority in Iraq are not uncommon. A spate of targeted attacks on the Christian community in Iraq in late 2008 displaced roughly half of the religious minority to neighboring Syria.
Courtesy of Christians of Iraq
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