Baghdad- Three Christians have been killed in the space of 24 hours in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, Aswat al-Iraq news agency reported Wednesday.

A man and his father were both shot dead Tuesday at their workplace, while extremists forced their way into a pharmacy in another district of the city and killed a Christian assistant who worked there.

Extremists killed a man and his father in September in the same city, which is located some 400 kilometres to the north of the capital and which is home to the second-largest community of Christians in Iraq after Baghdad.

Christians are persecuted because of their religion by the Sunni al-Qaeda in Iraq terrorist group and by the Shiite militias.

Churches and aid organizations in Europe have been pushing for EU countries to accept Christian refugees from Iraq.

Christian communities within Iraq are divided over the issue of immigration, which has severely reduced their numbers.

The Chaldean Church has spoken out for EU countries to accept individual Iraqi Christian families in acute danger, but the church would also like to prevent one of the world's oldest Christian communities from disappearing. (dpa)