Pope at risk of assassination by ISIS during visits to Albania and Turkey - PHOTO

Habeeb Al Sadr issued the stark warning today after Vatican officials insisted there was no threat to his safety - and said he will not ride in the bulletproof 'Popemobile' of his predecessor Benedict XVI.Mr Al Sadr, Iraq's ambassador to the Holy See, admitted he knew of no 'specific facts' or 'operational projects' but said: 'Just put two and two together... They want to kill the Pope.'The ambassador said the spread of extremists across the world meant Pope Francis is at risk anywhere - in Muslim countries, on trips to Britain and the U.S. and even in Rome.He told the Italian newspaper La Nazione: 'Threats against the Pope are credible. Public statements and crimes against Christianity by ISIS are a fact. Just put two and two together.'Let me be clear, I am not aware of specific facts or operational projects. But what has been said by the self-declared "Islamic state" terrorists is clear. They want to kill the Pope.'I think they could try to hit him during his travels or even in Rome, because there are members of ISIS who are not Arabs but also Canadians, Americans, French, British and Italian.'This gang of criminals does not merely threaten. In Iraq they have violated or destroyed some of the holiest sites of Shia Islam. They have hit places of worship in the Yazidi religion and Christianity. They forced 150,00 Christians to flee Mosul.'The ambassador said the ethos of the terrorists was 'convert or be killed' and described their murderous spread through Iraq as a 'genocide'.But he added Christians could not be 'prisoners of fear' and called on the Pope to send 'a message of hope to the Christians of the Middle East and around the world'.He added: 'With his wisdom and his courage could make this visit a bridge between our religions, a message of peace in the name of Abraham.'Iraq had among the first Christians in the world, in the form of Assyrians who have faced centuries of persecution since.Up to a million Christians are thought to have fled the country since British and U.S. troops invaded in 2003, with the violence of ISIS militants triggering a new exodus.The terrorists follow an extremist interpretation of Sunni Islam, declaring Shia Muslims and Sunnis who refused to kill as sworn enemies.Pope Francis will make a brief 11-hour visit to Albania, more than half of whose citizens are Sunni Muslims, this Sunday to mark the rebirth of religion after Communism fell in the early 1990s.He will celebrate Mass in a square named for Albania's most famous Catholic, Mother Teresa, in a bid to show how Catholics, Orthodox Christians and Muslims now live in harmony in the country where Catholics were once executed and sent to work camps.He is also due to visit Turkey at the end of November.Italian newspapers have claimed security sources fear violent jihadis previously in Iraq and Syria could return to their home countries and carry out an attack.(dailymail.co.uk)Bakudaily.Az