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Iraq gunmen target minority group | |
(20 minutes later) | |
Unidentified gunmen have killed 23 people in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, police said. | |
All the victims were said to be members of the Yazidi religious minority which follows a pre-Islamic religion and worships an angel figure. | |
Police said the victims had been dragged from a bus and shot dead. Followers of other faiths were reportedly left unharmed by the gunmen. | Police said the victims had been dragged from a bus and shot dead. Followers of other faiths were reportedly left unharmed by the gunmen. |
Earlier, two car bombs killed at least 12 people at a Baghdad police station. | Earlier, two car bombs killed at least 12 people at a Baghdad police station. |
Most of the victims in the capital's mainly Shia al-Bayaa area were civilians, police said. About 90 people were injured. | |
Police say the Yazidis were workers at a textile factory in Mosul. Their bus was ambushed as they were travelling home to the nearby town of Bashika. | |
The Yazidis are mostly ethnic KurdsPolice said the gunmen ordered followers of other faiths to leave the bus, before killing the Yazidi members in a field by the road. | |
Three Yazidi members were seriously wounded but survived the attack, police and hospital officials said. | |
No group has so far claimed the responsibility for the shootings, but reports say the Yazidi community has recently faced threats from Sunni Muslim extremists in the Mosul area. | |
The Yazidis are mostly ethnic Kurds. | The Yazidis are mostly ethnic Kurds. |
They worship an angel figure that some Muslims and Christians consider the devil. | They worship an angel figure that some Muslims and Christians consider the devil. |