Four priests and layman rescue more than 100 students in Iraq

A group of four Syriac priests and a layman were behind a daring rescue of more than 100 students trapped in a university in northern Iraq after the area was targeted by ISIS fighters. 

In an account shared with the Register, one of the priests, Fr Georges Jahola, said they decided to mount the evacuation after it became clear that the Syriac students in the city of Kirkuk were in grave danger.

The jihadists had attacked the city’s governing council on October 21, the same area in which the students were living, as a diversion from the liberation of Mosul. They killed 114 Iraqis, most of them security forces, but failed to take the city.

Pro-Iraqi government forces launched a military offensive October 17 to liberate Mosul and its surrounding villages in Nineveh province after they were captured by ISIS in the summer of 2014.

The continuing operation, in an area famous for having one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, could take at least two months, according to Iraq’s military.

The evacuated students had been studying in Mosul but had to flee to Kirkuk after the ISIS invasion in 2014.

During the October 21 ISIS attack, seven Syriac girls spent a harrowing eight hours hidden underneath beds while ISIS fighters used their room as a hideout during an assault on the city. 

They told CNA that they credited the Virgin Mary for keeping them safe. 

The four priests and layman also helped rescue the girls, and a number of refugees.