WATCH: Church bell rings in Bartella, no Christians there to visit

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – Kurdistan24 was one of the first media networks to enter the liberated Christian-populated town of Bartella in the east of Mosul, showing the aftermath of churches in the area.

Bartella was one of the areas under Islamic State (IS) control since June 2014.

Iraqi security forces liberated the town, located 21 kilometers (13 miles) east of Mosul, on Oct. 20. 

A Kurdistan24 team led by correspondent Goran Shakhawan shows the aftermath of churches in the town where IS largely damaged the buildings and materials inside.

Shakhawan rings the bell of a church inside the town for the first time since it was recently liberated. However, no Christians come to the church as the town remains empty.

Moreover, he finds a timetable and an IS military training course inside a hall of the church where the extremists were providing sniper training.

Following IS’ occupation of Bartella, most of the people in the town left the area and moved to the Kurdistan Region.

New hope returns to Christians as their towns are continuously freed by the Kurdish Peshmerga and Iraqi security forces.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany