Mystery shrouds attacks on Iraq's Christians

- In a quiet neighborhood where pear trees and roses peep over garden walls, a shattered vase lies beside blocks of concrete and dust, all that is left of a Christian family's home blown up this month.

Around the way are the ruins of two other Christian-owned homes, nothing more than rubble piled under their roofs.

All three were bombed within minutes of one another, part of a campaign of violence this month that has caused at least 1,500 Christian families to flee the city, one of the most ethnically and religiously diverse in Iraq.

Neighbors say some of the families were ordered out by unknown men just minutes before their houses were destroyed.

Recent attacks and threats against Christians have caused alarm from Baghdad to the Vatican to the United Nations.

The violence brought to the fore the plight of a religious minority that numbers in the hundreds of thousands in mainly Muslim Iraq, and exposed rifts in a part of the country where ethnic diversity has created a delicate balance of power.

Local authorities say the fears of a wave of anti-Christian violence have been overblown to provoke panic, and predict that the families will soon return.

Zuhair Muhsin al-Aaraji, Mosul's mayor, said that at least 35 Christian families had returned home. We had one or two incidents that were exaggerated by the media. I'm positive that the Christian families will return to the city and live normally -- no one will attack them," Aaraji, a member of Iraq's small minority Shabak sect, told Reuters.

The U.S. military has also said the violence may have been exaggerated as part of an effort to stir up tension.

Wednesday, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shi'ite, met Christian leaders and again promised protection.

"Those who have caused the displacement of Christians from their homes will be punished, and all the parties that stood behind these armed elements ... will be held accountable," Maliki's office said in a statement.

About 12 Christians have been reported killed this month, although U.S. forces say they cannot verify many of the attacks.

HIDDEN PLOTS, UNKNOWN PLOTTERS

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