When Iraqi government troops liberated Tel Kaif from Islamic State militias last week, they found that a 60-year-old Christian woman had been hidden for almost three years by her Muslim neighbours, reports Al Araby.

Georgette Hanna did not manage to join the thousands of Christians fleeing Mosul and other towns in the Nineveh plains, like Tel Kaif, in June 2014 when IS troops invaded.

When she first saw the government soldiers as they liberated the town, she covered her head with a veil, thinking the jihadists were still around. When she realised who they were, she went out on to the street to end her years of isolation.

The Open Doors 2017 World Watch List ranks Iraq as the seventh most dangerous place to be a Christian.