Nineveh Plains, Iraq -- The Christian man crammed his family and their belongings into the car before casting a final glance around the church hall in northern Iraq that had been their refuge for the past fortnight. Satisfied that everything was inside, he climbed behind the wheel and set off in the direction of home: the notorious city of Mosul.

Abu Masarra, his wife, their two children and his father were among scores of Christian families who were daring to venture back to Mosul only weeks after they and thousands of others fled after a spate of killings.

"My heart was racing as we made the journey," Abu Masarra, a builder, said. "There is a heavy security presence in the street and we've had no problems, but I'm still too scared to venture far outside."

The mass exodus from Mosul, which was condemned yesterday by the Pope, has eased but many families remain too traumatised to follow the lead of Abu Masarra, 39, preferring to squat in monasteries and the spare rooms of houses in towns and villages to the north and east of the city.

Questions also remained about who carried out the attacks, which left more than a dozen Christian men dead and three houses destroyed. Allegations ranged from al-Qaeda fighters, who have killed Christians in the past, to power-hungry elements linked to the northernmost Kurdish region of Iraq.

The Kurdish authorities denied any connection.

Whatever the truth, the plight of the Christians highlighted the suffering of all the minority Iraqi communities, which include the Shabaks, who practise a form of Shia Islam, and the Yazidis, another ancient sect, as they struggle to find a voice before the nationwide provincial elections to be held by January 31.

Qusay Abbas Mohammed is a top Shabak official in Bartella, a majority Christian town in the Nineveh Plains, north of Mosul, where more than 200 Christian families sought refuge. "Big whales swallow small fish," Mr Mohammed said, adding: "We are currently in danger of being swallowed."

Some minority leaders said that they were under pressure to run in the elections with larger Kurdish groupings rather than separately. Others argued that they would prefer to align themselves with the Kurds to be part of a more powerful force.

Basim Bello, the mayor of the Christian village of Telkif, also in the Nineveh Plains, said: "If the big blocks want to engulf us then the minorities will not be represented. You have to ask why we removed Saddam Hussein. Then we had a dictatorship, now we have multiple dictatorships."

Adding to the dilemma, parliament abolished a guaranteed quota of seats for minorities last month. The decision, which looks set to be amended, sparked protests by Christians at about the same time as the Mosul killings occurred.

This prompted speculation that the violence was motivated politically, with some alleging that the Kurdish authorities were using fear of persecution to make minorities feel as though the Kurdish region was their only haven.

The Nineveh Plains, which border the Kurdish north, have been home for centuries to Christians, Shabaks and Yazidis. The rural land is dotted with churches, mosques and cone-shaped-shrines that distinguish the Yazidi faith.

Targeted in Baghdad, Basra and Mosul after the invasion in 2003, thousands of people from minority sects have returned to their roots, where life remains a struggle with limited electricity, water and prospects.

The Nineveh Plains was officially under the control of the Iraqi Government but there was a strong Kurdish influence in several main towns. Caught in the middle, the minorities hoped to turn the land into their own autonomous region, although there was disagreement over whether to align any new province with Baghdad or Arbil, the capital of the Kurdish region.

Sulaiman Suvu, the spiritual leader of the Yazidis, believed that the future for all minorities was with the Kurds. "People have fled from Baghdad, Mosul and elsewhere to the Kurdish region," he said, speaking at his home in the majority Yazidi town of Bashiqa. "We would like an autonomous region under the Kurdistan regional government."

In contrast Mr Mohamed, the Shabak official, believed that Kurdish parties were using intimidation and the promise of reward to extend their authority. "Their goal is to build a Kurdish state, which is a legitimate ambition, but it should not be at the expense of the minorities," he said.

Nechirvan Barzani, the prime minister of the Kurdish north, denied the suggestion that Kurds would try to pressure minorities politically. He also rejected the idea that the Kurdish authorities had anything to do with the Christian deaths.

"It is unreasonable for people like the Kurds, who have suffered a lot of oppression in the past, to practise the same kind of oppression against another nationality," the prime minister told The Times.

The Kurdish minority in Iraq was persecuted horrifically under Saddam.

In Mosul the Iraqi Government has started an operation to restore calm to its third-largest city, which has been plagued by violence since the invasion. It is also promising the families that left one million Iraqi dinars (£530) to return, an offer that few relish without the guarantee of safety.

With winter on the horizon, however, some are taking the chance. Umm Mariam and her family fled their home on October 10 after two Christians were shot near by. They took refuge in a church hall in Bartella but planned to travel home this week.

"There is an improvement in Mosul," the 50-year-old said, sitting in a small room in the hall where 42 other families were also squatting. "My daughter has gone back today to enrol at university. We must return. Our lives are there."

By Deborah Haynes
www.timesonline.co.uk

Additional reporting by Wail al-Hafoth