Washington (AINA) -- US representatives Ana Eshoo and Frank Wolf have sent a letter to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, calling for protection for Iraq's Assyrians. The letter states:

"The Christian owner of a car repair shop was killed execution-style in Mosul, police said Saturday, raising concern about the possibility of new attacks against the religious minority in the northern Iraqi city."

This chilling excerpt came from an AP story last week. The targeted violence comes on the heels of attacks and intimidation last fall which prompted thousands of Iraqi Christians to flee their homes in fear.

This is not the first time we have seen targeted killings. We need look no further than the 2008 kidnap and murder of Archbishop Rahho of Mosul, an Assyrian Christian of the Chaldean Church, or Youssef Adel, an Assyrian Christian priest who was also fatally shot in a drive-by attack in April 2008. These high-profile killings are indicative of wider-scale persecution experienced by this suffering community. The numbers tell the story.

The lawmakers asked the Secretary to:

Among your first actions as Secretary, we urge you to facilitate the development ofa comprehensive policy to address the unique plight of Iraq's struggling ethno-religious minorities, specifically the Christian community. Further, we ask, consistent with the recommendations of USCIRF, that you appoint a special envoy for human rights in Iraq to our Embassy in Baghdad, reporting directly to you to serve as the lead human rights official in Iraq for the United States.

Assyrians have been subjected to sustained violence (report) since the first church bombings in 2004.