Assyrian Woman Brutally Murdered

Ms. Tyadors was targeted by Muslim extremists because she studied and spoke English and wore jeans.

Anita Tyadors, 21, an Assyrian college student, was murdered by roaming thugs in the Zohoor region of Mosul, Iraq on August 5, 2005. She had just left the local internet office and was making her way back home when three cars abruptly stopped in front of the building, blocking her way. realizing the danger she was in she ran as fast as she could unspecified number of men jumped out of the cars and chased her. Finally they caught up with here and one of them pistol-whipped her and throw her in the trunk of one of the cars and drew her to an undisclosed location where the pulled her out and began to beat her up. She was stabbed and kicked until she was dead. She was shot to make sure that she was dead and her broken body was dropped on a street.

When she did not return home friends and family went to search for her. Her dead body was found two days later on a Sunday.  Ms. Tyadors is survived by her mother, a brother and several relatives in Baghdad and Toronto Canada.

(ZNDA: Mosul) Last week in Mosul, Iraq, Major Ahmad Abdullah Al Jabouri of the Mosul General Police Directorate said that his department has arrested two members of the most radical Islamic groups called the "Muslim Land and Mosul Disinfection Group". The group specializes in the manufacturing of the remote control explosives.

Reports indicate that the two arrested members had in their possession maps of targeted locations for future operations. The Mosul Police also found lists of Christian and Yezidi people targeted for assassination or execution by this or other specialized groups. The two criminals confessed that their group has conducted 23 assassinations and 11 explosions of cars in Mosul and its suburbs.

They also confessed that their team wrongly killed a Muslim family of a husband, wife and three children, one of whom was an infant. On 2 June 2005 they attacked the family car with gun fire thinking that the car belonged to a Christian engineer working in a Mosul pharmaceutical companies whose name appeared on their list of unbeliever and traitors.

Major Ahmad Al Jabouri confirmed that the said engineer a year ago survived an association attempt . Al Jabouri believes that the engineer his family left town after the assassination attempt leaving behind his business and home. His brother-in-law was one of the victims of a bomb attack against a churches in Mosul on 1 August 2004.

Major Al Jabouri dismissed the possibility of providing protection for people who may be targeted by the terrorists. He noted that such a task requires the recruitment of an army of investigators and police enforcement. An officer of the Mosul Directorate who preferred not to mention his name commented: "In this phase I believe that it is very wrong to deal with any of such criminals in a civilized way, because the only language they understand is killing and revenge . They kill an innocent Muslim family without remorse then go to the Mosque in the same city of read the Koran."

(Baghdad) Mr. Anmar Romaya, a Chaldean Iraqi living in Baghdad was recently kidnapped by terrorists hoping to extort hundreds of thousands of dollars. Christians continue to be targets of kidnappings and ransom demands in order to raise money to support the insurgency fighting in Iraq. Knowing that Christians have little or no support, they are often targeted by extremists. Mr. Anmar Romaya was captured and tortured by kidnappers and later released after paying a large ransom.

Both the Iraqi police force and the coalition troops have done little to stop the financial lifeline of terrorist activities which include extortion. The irony is that terrorists groups are using the kidnappings to raise money which is used to fight the Iraqi government.

On Tuesday August 23rd, Anmar Romaya was working in his makeshift arcade, offering young children a semblance of sanity, when insurgents stormed in. Forcing all the young children and workers to lay on the floor they quickly threw a bag over Anmar's head and dragged him away.

Hours later the Romaya family receives a call demanding over two hundred thousand dollars or their son would be beheaded. After merciful pleas and negotiations the terrorists demanded eighty thousand dollars in two days or Anmar would be killed. Being that Anmar was the sole provider for the entire family little could be done to raise such funds.

According to Regina Salim, a family friend, the kidnappers finally released Mr. Romaya. He was badly tortured and was unable to speak. His eyes and face were swollen beyond recognition. They tortured him with metal rods/pipes.

The family in Iraq managed to borrow $30,000 from friends/relatives and when a friend of the family dropped off the money he disappeared. They don't know if he was killed or if he abscounded with the money. They then had to borrow another $30,000. So they are currently $60,000 in debt.

The family is trying to sell their home in order to recover their debt, while trying to nurse Anmar back to health, and then leave Iraq.

The kidnappers have threatened Mr. Romaya's other family members. The family was hesitant to report that Mr. Romaya had been realeased and urged everyone not to speak of it for fear the kidnappers would return.

It has been reported that the KDP member peshmerges killed two Assyrian civilians by shooting them in the head in the Bartilla city of Mosul in Iraq last week. The Iraqi sources commented on the event and said that the Assyrians holding demonstrations against constitution resulted in the reaction of the Kurdish peshmerges.

According to the received information, a 37 year-old Assyrian called Nabil Akram Amona was shot down dead in the head by the KDP peshmerges in Bartilla. While waiting the tank of his car to be filled up at the gas station the KDP pehmerges entering the station got out of their vehicles and approached Amona and took the gas pump out of the tank of the car. Later, they killed Amona shooting him in the head.

Meanwhile, another Assyrian called Matta Shamoun Zora Shaya who wished to take Amona to the hospital was shot by the same peshmerges and in the same way. Shaya who was taken to the hospital after the peshmerges went away from the crime scene lost his life. It has been reported that some witnesses said that the Kurdish peshmerges who killed the two Assyrians had often stolen gas from the oil station belonging to the Iraqi state and sold it at the black market. After the event, the Assyrians in Bartilla held a demonstration and protested the attitude of the Kurdish peshmerges.

Various reports-comments appeared in the world press recently on the fact that Kurdish peshmerges terrorized Chaldean, Arab, Turkmen, Shabak communities and especially Assyrians in Mosul, Arbil and Kirkuk.

In the article entitled "the Militia Groups Take Control in the North and South of Iraq by Force" published under the signatures of Anthony Shadid and Stevce Fainaru in the August 21, 2005 issue of the Washington Post it was said that "according to the Iraqi officials, political leaders, advocates of the human rights and the families of the victims; the Shiite and Kurdish militias carrying out operations as part of the security forces subordinate to the Iraqi government reinforce their control over the northern and southern parts by perpetrating abductions, assassinations and other acts of intimidation and cause the ethnic and sectarian differences in Iraq to be sharper.

The following points were also included in the same article:
"The advocates of human rights and officials, the residents of Mosul, and nearby villages and cities which the Kurds govern and the city of Basra in the south where the Shiites prevail say that they are powerless in the face of the escalating attacks of the militias subordinate to the Shiite and Kurdish parties. Most people say that this situation create an atmosphere of fear and concern , which reminds the period of the toppled President Saddam Hussein.

Nahrain Toma, the Head of the Assyrian Human Rights Organization called Bethnahrain says that "he can not see any difference between what Saddam has done and what the Kurds have applied here". Toma states that the tactic applied by the Shiites and Kurds have eroded what has been left from the prestige of the USA because many people that militias act upon the permission of the USA and UK. Toma says: "Nobody wants to have anything related with Americans. Why? Because the Americans have given the power to Kurds and Shiites. Apart from them nobody has any rights."

The human rights advocates in Iraq, political leaders and the released prisoners report that Kurds keep the people that they have detained in the prisons in Arbil, Suleimaniya, Dahuk, Akrah and Shaklava."

Up to now hundreds of Assyrians and Cheldeans have been shot dead by the KDP Peshmerges in Northern Iraq although they have been innocent and hundreds of them have been imprisoned or frightened by being kept under pressure and they have been prevented from defending their rights. The Assyrian and Cheldean organizations in the USA and Europe need to do something in the face of the increasing pressure of the KDP. Otherwise it will be inevitable that the Assyrian existence in Iraq will be wiped out from the history.

Yakup Acar

yakup0047@mynet.com