Ringing of Church Bells Marks Freedom For Christian Iraqi Town

Bartella, Iraq -Church bells rang out over the Christian town of Bartella, Iraq, for the first time in more than two years Friday as Iraqi soldiers celebrated their victory over ISIS.

Kurdish troops and Iraqi special forces killed more than 80 ISIS fighters and drove the rest from the town that's situated just nine miles from the city of Mosul. Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq, has been occupied by the jihadi army since August 2014.

Bartella, once home to thousands of Assyrian Christians, has been nearly deserted since ISIS took control. The Islamic State gave Christians and other religious minorities an ultimatum: pay a tax, convert to Islam, or die. Christian homes were looted and churches desecrated and even turned into training camps for ISIS.