Iraqi PM: Christians essential to Iraq

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Tuesday ordered security officials to work for the release of a kidnapped Chaldean Catholic archbishop, calling Christians "an essential component of the Iraqi society."

Paulos Faraj Rahho was kidnapped and three of his companions were killed Friday when gunmen attacked them soon after he left Mass in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the latest in what church members called a series of attacks against Iraq's small Christian community.

Al-Maliki "has issued orders to the Interior Minister and the security officials in Nineveh province to meticulously follow this issue and work hard to release the archbishop as soon as possible," a statement by the prime minister's office said.

The U.S. military has said Iraqi and U.S. forces were searching for those who abducted the cleric. But Iraqi army Brig. Khalid Abdul-Sattar, the spokesman of the Nineveh province's joint operation command, said Tuesday that security forces in Mosul do not have any leads on Rahho's kidnapping.

"Christians in Iraq are an essential component of the Iraqi society and a part that cannot be separated from the Iraqi people and civilization. Any assault on the Christians is an assault on all Iraqis," the prime minister's statement said.

Pope Benedict XVI last week called for the swift release of Rahho, saying the "abominable" act was an attack on the Iraqi church as a whole. The European Union also has appealed for his release and condemned the kidnapping.

Chaldean Catholics comprise a tiny minority of the Iraqi population, but are the largest group among the less than 1 million Christians in predominantly Muslim Iraq. Since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, Iraqi Christians have been targeted by extremists who label them "crusaders" loyal to U.S. troops.

Benedict has frequently expressed deep concern about the plight of Christians caught in the deadly sectarian crossfire in Iraq. Last fall, al-Maliki also pledged to protect and support the Christian minority.

Though most of Iraq has witnessed a decrease of violence over the past six months, the U.S. military regards Mosul as the last urban stronghold of al-Qaida in Iraq, and is engaged in a campaign with Iraqi forces to root out extremists from the city 225 miles northwest of Baghdad.