Mosul, Iraq (AFP) -- Gunmen killed two Christian shop owners in separate attacks within 24 hours in Iraq's northern city of Mosul, police said as the community's leaders hit out at the violence.

Greengrocer Fatukhi Munir, an Assyrian Catholic, was gunned down inside his shop in a drive-by shooting late yesterday in western Mosul's Sahaba district, police said.

Armed assailants also killed Rayan Salem Elias, a Chaldean Christian who ran a business dealing in a traditional meat dish, outside his home in the city's east on Sunday.

"The Christian minority has become an issue in the elections, as it always is before the elections," said Hazem Girgis, a deacon at an Orthodox church in the town centre.

"Two Christians have been killed since the start of the campaign," which opened on Friday, said Girgis. "We are terrified... and the security forces are not able to offer us any security.