Convert, pay tax, or die, Islamic State warns Christians
 

Islamist insurgents have issued an ultimatum to **rthern Iraq's dwindling Christian population to either convert to Islam, pay a religious levy or face death, according to a statement distributed in the militant-controlled city of Mosul. The statement issued by the Islamic State, the al Qaeda offshoot which led last month's lightning assault to capture swathes of **rth Iraq, and seen by Reuters, said the ruling would come into effect on Saturday. It said Christians who wanted to remain in the "caliphate" that the Islamic State declared this month in parts of Iraq and Syria must agree to abide by terms of a "dhimma" contract - a historic practice under which **n-Muslims were protected in Muslim lands in return for a special levy k**wn as "jizya". A resident of Mosul said the statement, issued in the name of the Islamic State in Iraq's **rthern province of Nineveh, had been distributed on Thursday and read out in mosques.

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