The United Nations refugee agency says it is helping thousands of Iraqi Christians seeking refuge in northern Iraq and Syria.
Aspokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said Friday mostof the Christians who have fled persecution in Mosul in the past twoweeks have settled in villages elsewhere in Ninewa province. But theofficial, Ron Redmond, speaking in Geneva, added that about 400 othershave crossed into Syria.
The spokesman said it is not clear whois behind the violence that has forced some 13,000 people, half ofMosul's Christian population, to leave the city.
Several Christians have been killed, while many others have received death threats.
Violencehas been down throughout the country in recent months, but U.S. andother officials have warned it could rise as Iraq prepares forelections early next year.
Also Friday, the U.S. military saidcoalition forces have detained eight suspected insurgents during twodays of operations in central Iraq.
The military says coalitiontroops seized three suspects today in a raid on an al-Qaida in Iraq carbombing network outside Fallujah. It says at least one of the men is asuspected car bomb facilitator with ties to other militants in theregion.
A military statement says coalition troops detainedthree other people in a separate operation in the same area. It saysits forces seized two suspects in a similar operation Thursday in thecapital, Baghdad.
On the diplomatic front, the interiorministers of Iraq's neighboring countries Thursday pledged theirsupport for Iraq's stability and security.
Officials fromSyria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait, and Egypt, meeting in theJordanian capital Amman, agreed to cooperate in helping Iraq eliminateterrorism.