Baghdad, Apr. 18, 2007 (AsiaNews via CWNews.com) - Iraqi Christians are facing new threats, with Islamic groups threatening to destroy churches unless crosses are removed, the AsiaNews service reports.

In Baghdad the Chaldean Catholic church of Sts. Peter and Paul received a blunt warning: "Get rid of the cross or we will burn your churches." Bishop Shlemnon Warduni told AsiaNews, "in the last 2 months many churches have been forced to remove their crosses from their domes," while in one case Islamic militants climbed the church roof to destroy the cross themselves.

Christians in some sections have been warned not to wear a cross, and advised to convert to Islam or face violence. The situation is "unsustainable," Bishop Warduni reports, and the pressure upon Christians to leave the country is still growing.

[For a more detailed report see the AsiaNews web site.]