Gunmen Execute 23 In Kurdish Sect

Yazidis pulled from bus and shot in reprisal for stoning

By Caroline Miller, Newser Staff

Posted Apr 22, 2007 3:54 PM CDT

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Gunmen Execute 23 In Kurdish Sect — A resident reacts in front of a building damaged by a car bomb blast in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, April 22, 2007. Two suicide car bombers attacked a police station in western Baghdad, killing at least 13 people and wounding 82, police said. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban) (Associated Press)

Gunmen in northern Iraq stopped a bus carrying workers home from a textile factory today, identified 23 members of a tiny religious sect on board, and shot them to death. The bus was filled with Christians and Yazidis, a mostly Kurdish sect that worships an angel, the AP reports.

The killings appeared to be a response to the stoning death of a Yazidi woman who converted to Islam. The gunmen ordered passengers off the bus, checked their IDs, and forced the Yazidis back on board. They were driven to Mosul, lined up against a wall, and executed. In Baghdad, at least 20 people were killed in car bombings. (More Iraq stories.)

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