ICC Note: 23 sisters of the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena-Iraq have died in the past 18 months due to the trauma of escaping ISIS in Iraq. The Dominican Sisters have been serving in Iraq for over 150 years now, having historically good relations with their muslim neighbors. The first attack from ISIS came in 2003, however the full advance of ISIS did not appear until 2014 when the militant group overtook the city of Mosul. The sisters, like other Christians in the region, have since been fighting to save their own lives.

04/20/16 Iraq (Christian Today): The Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena-Iraq recently gave a gripping account of how they escaped from the tyranny of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq, an ordeal that led to the death of 23 sisters over the past 18 months, according to the National Catholic Reporter.

According to the nuns based in the Iraqi city of Qaraqosh, the ISIS launched its first mortar shell attack on their community in 2003.

The Dominican Sisters have been serving the Iraqi Christian community in Qaraqosh and Mosul for almost 150 years. The nuns taught in schools and had good relations with their Muslim neighbours.

However, the sisters later began to sense trouble and started planning for potential problems that could arise from attacks by ISIS militants or their supporters.

In early June 2014, ISIS attacked the city of Mosul, Iraq, triggering a massive exodus from that city and later from towns like Qaraqosh, the largest Christian city in Iraq, and nearby villages.

Some 500,000 internally displaced people ran for safety and shelter in the Kurdish region of Iraq.

ISIS militants kidnapped Chaldean sisters and three orphans.

The Dominican nuns remaining in Mosul had three choices: To pay a Christian tax, convert to Islam or leave to save their lives.

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