Suicide Fuel Bombs Kill 175

SUICIDE bombers driving fuel tankers attacked an ancient minority sect in northern Iraq last night, killing at least 175.

Three or four simultaneous blasts targeted residential areas of the Yazidi sect near the northern city of Mosul. Up to 200 other residents were injured.

The death toll was the highest in a concerted attack since November 23, when 215 were killed by mortar fire and five car bombs in Baghdad’s Shiite enclave of Sadr City.

Tensions between the sect and local Muslims have grown since a Yazidi girl was reportedly stoned by her community in April for converting to Islam.

Yazidis are members of a pre-Islamic Kurdish sect and live in northern Iraq and Syria. Yazidis in Iraq say they have often faced discrimination. In April, gunmen shot dead 23 factory workers from the sect in Mosul.

Dhakil Qassim, mayor of Sinjar, a town near where the attacks occurred, said Al Qaeda was behind the bombings, citing what he said were Kurdish government intelligence reports.

Earlier in the day, five U.S. service personnel were killed when a military transport helicopter crashed during a routine flight west of Baghdad. An investigation is underway..

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