“The Christian community at large is relatively uninformed about this,” said Carl Moeller, president of California-based Open Doors. “It is a commonplace occurrence in Iraq, sadly, yet largely unnoticed by American Christians.”

Members of two Christian families were killed Tuesday in the northern Iraq city of Mosul. At least 14 Christians apparently have been targeted and murdered in the past week in the city, once the seat of Iraq’s Christian and Jewish community and—at over 2.5 million—Iraq’s third largest city.

The killings come on the eve of Iraq’s national parliamentary elections scheduled for March 7. Nineveh Province, at present considered the most volatile region in the country, is divided among Sunni, Kurd, and minority political elements. Many see the area’s Christian community as torn in its allegiances among Sunni Arab, Kurdish, and a few Christian candidates for parliament—and therefore subject to intimidation by violent militants.

On Tuesday, attackers drove by the home of one Christian family in Mosul, firing shots at the dwelling. Later the gunmen returned, forced themselves into the house, and gunned down the entire family. An Iraqi who reported the incident to the U.S.-based monitoring group Open Doors said five or six family members were in the home at the time of the shootings. “They even threw two bodies outside the house as a cruel warning for others,” the Iraqi said.

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