The death toll from brutal truck bombings targeting the ancient Yazidi religious sect in northern Iraq rose to more than 200 on Wednesday, a local government official said.
The mayor of Sinjar, a town in the northern province of Nineveh where four truck bombs exploded on Tuesday, voiced fears that the toll could rise further.
In one of the bloodiest single incidents of the four-year war in Iraq, bombers detonated four explosive-laden trucks in two villages in the province of Nineveh, inhabited by members of Iraq’s Yazidi minority, officials said.
“More than 200 people were killed and an equal number of people are wounded,” Dakhil Qassim Hassun said.
“The casualties are expected to rise as many victims are still trapped under the debris.”
Yazidis — who number about 500 000 — speak a dialect of Kurdish but follow a pre-Islamic religion and have their own cultural traditions.
They believe in God the creator and respect the Biblical and Qur’anic prophets, especially Abraham, but their main focus of worship is Malak Taus, the chief of the archangels, often represented by a peacock.
Followers of other religions know this angel as Lucifer or Satan, leading to popular prejudice that the secretive Yazidis are devil-worshippers.
The White House swiftly condemned the bombings as “barbaric attacks on innocent civilians” and vowed to help Iraqi forces “beat back these vicious and heartless murderers”, spokesperson Dana Perino said.
The United States military gave a lower death toll of 60 but said five car bombs had exploded in the region.
“Four vehicles were reported to have entered a crowded bus station and exploded as soon as they were inside of Khataniyah … killing approximately 30 people,” the military said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Another VBIED [vehicle-borne-improvised-explosive-device] detonated in a residential area of al-Jazeera, south-west of Khataniyah” and also killed about 30 people, the military said.
US forces said an unknown number of people were trapped under the debris and up to 20 houses were destroyed. — AFP