Dec 25, 04

MOSUL, Iraq (AFP) - Iraq (news - web sites )'s dwindling Christian community took charge of its own security determined to hold Christmas services in some of the most hostile spots to their faith, such as the northern city of Mosul.

Outside the gates of the Syriac Orthodox church in the Al-Shurta neighborhood on the northern side of Mosul, young men searched all those entering.

About 150 people gathered inside the church for the service, and reporters were asked to leave before it started.

At Deir Mar Jurgis, also in northern Mosul, the faithful gathered inside and outside the church.

"They are guarding their own churches, because there is no police force in the city to help them," General Motaz Taqa, the head of the Joint Coordination Centre, a rapid reaction unit of Iraqi and US forces, told AFP.

"And the national guard cannot help either because they are occupied securing the police stations that were vacated by police."

Insurgents ransacked police stations in the city in early November prompting the bulk of the 5,000-strong force to quit. US and Iraqi security forces have since been securing some stations while conducting operations against insurgents in the city of almost two million.

Two churches were bombed in Mosul on December 7 leaving three wounded. In August, five churches were attacked here and in Baghdad, and 10 people were killed.

Mosul is the traditional home of many of Iraq's estimated 700,000 Christians.

A lot have left Iraq already in the wake of the attacks but those who stayed are determined to keep their beliefs and traditions alive.

In Kirkuk, southeast of Mosul, mass took place in one of the biggest churches in the oil city as armed guards from the local community vigilantly watched the streets from the cream-coloured bell tower.

"We Christians are true Iraqis that are conscious of their obligations towards their native land," says Nasir Izzo, a member of the local council in this ethnically tense city.

"We prayed that Iraq be delivered from the relentless violence."

A similar sentiment was echoed in the southern city of Basra where Archbishop Gabriel Kassab lead the service at one of the city's largest churches in the Minawi Pasha neighbourhood.

Security was very tight as roads leading to the church were cut almost from 300-meter (yard) distance as police fanned out in the area.