Iraqi Christians want to keep track of crimes comitted by ISIS

Iraqi Christians want to document the crimes committed by members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) before cleaning up the newly liberated villages.

Father Ammar of the Syrian Catholic Church said that he wept when he saw the condition of the hospital and church in Qaraqosh. He had been living in the Christian enclave Ankawa in Irbil when ISIS took over the Christian towns of the Nineveh Plains in 2014, Deutsche Welle reported.

Ammar, who currently offers assistance to the members of the Mart Shmony Church in Ankawa, revealed that the residents are angry because they believe that cleaning up the town would hide the crimes of ISIS.

"They are angry that the government wants to clean up in Qaraqosh, to hide the crimes," said Ammar.

"We want to document everything, all the damage and destruction, before anything is cleaned. Already something has been changed, the IS slogans have been painted over," he continued.

He noted that ISIS leaders took the best houses in the town, and one of the leaders occupied the house of the Church of The Immaculate. He added that many of the fighters came from the surrounding villages and provided the leaders with fuel and food.

"Houses became clinics and pharmacies. Some were stores for weapons. The Church of Mar Gorgis became a bomb factory," the priest continued.

Ammar said that all the houses had been looted and graves had been opened to steal the valuables buried with the dead. He added that the militants kept Yazidi women as slaves in one of the houses belonging to the church.

It was reported that there are about 30 to 70 Christians missing in the town since it was invaded by ISIS.

Many of its former residents are saying that they will not live in the town again, unless they are provided proper protection and compensation.

Dhia Roufa used to live in Mosul but she fled to Qaraqosh in 2006 when militants threatened to abduct her daughter. She said that she cannot return to Qaraqosh even if it is declared safe from ISIS because she has no means to rebuild her house.

"I am 64 years old. If I were young I could start again, but at this age what can I do? We (Christians) have no future in Iraq," she told Reuters.