France offers asylum to Iraqi Christians

Islamic State had ordered Christian families to convert to Islam or leave the city, prompting the mass exodus.

Those who failed to comply were threatened with execution, and the property of those who left was forfeited to the Islamic State, AFP reported a statement from the group as saying.

France has said it is ready to welcome Christians fleeing the area of Iraq controlled by Islamic State group's fighters, saying it is "outraged" by their persecution.

Islamic State fighters seized large swaths of northern Iraq last month, prompting hundreds of Christian families in Mosul to flee a city which has hosted the faith since its earliest years.

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