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| Iraq crisis: Christians flee as Islamic militants seize town | |
| (34 minutes later) | |
| Thousands of Christians are reported to be fleeing after Islamic militants seized the minority's biggest town in Iraq. | |
| The Islamic State (IS) group captured Qaraqosh in the north overnight after the withdrawal of Kurdish forces. | |
| An international Christian organisation said at least a quarter of Iraq's Christians were leaving Qaraqosh and other surrounding towns. | |
| IS has seized large parts of Iraq and Syria to create an Islamic caliphate. | |
| The French organisation Fraternite en Irak said on its Facebook page (in French) that a majority of inhabitants of Nineveh province had fled as the militants took over Qaraqosh. | |
| The archbishops of the cities of Mosul and Kirkurk confirmed that the Christian town had fallen. | |
| Iraq is home to one of the world's most ancient Christian communities, but numbers have dwindled amid growing sectarian violence since the US-led invasion in 2003. |