Two car bombings against members of an ethnic minority in northern Iraq and militant attacks on Iraqi soldiers and police officers killed at least 27 people on Friday, Iraqi officials said. The bombings struck in Tahrawa, a village inhabited by families from the Shabak ethnic group, killing seven people. The village is near Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad. Police officials also said that 43 people were wounded in the explosions. The Shabak have their own distinct language and belief system, which is an offshoot of Shiite Islam. Most live in villages east of Mosul, the provincial capital of the ethnically mixed Nineveh Province, which is predominantly Sunni Muslim. Also Friday, clashes broke out in Mosul after gunmen tried to seize an army ammunition depot. The attack was repelled, but six soldiers were killed and five others were wounded, the police said. Other clashes in Mosul left seven members of the security forces dead, along with 16 militants who tried to take control of some neighborhoods in the city. After nightfall, mortar shells slammed into several houses in the Shiite village of Sabaa al-Bour, about 20 miles north of Baghdad, killing seven people and wounding 20.
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(via NY Times)
