Iraq's sectarian strife engulfs minority Yazidis

The BBC reports that there is nothing to indicate that militant Sunnis were involved in the attacks against the Yazidis, and that the dispute is a local one. The BBC says the attackers shouted "God curse your devil" before killing the Yazidis, a reference to the belief among some Muslims that the culturally Kurdish Yazidis are devil-worshippers because of the angel - represented by a blue peacock - that they worship.

Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN), a humanitarian news service that is part of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, reports that the Yazidis have asked the Iraqi government for protection following Sunday's killings. Hebert Yegorova, a spokesman for the Yazidi Peace Association, said "It is unacceptable because Yazidis, in addition to being a minority in Iraq, have been discriminated against for their beliefs and are forced to isolate themselves to stay alive."

"We're desperate and with this massacre we're sure that soon there'll be more killings. Dozens of Yazidis have been individually killed over the past four years [since the US occupation of Iraq] and we have to save the remaining ones," he said. "Today, our organisation received a threatening letter saying that the massacre was just the beginning of the fate of all Yazidis."

Yazidis have long claimed discrimination in Iraq for matters such as employment and education....

The Los Angeles Times reports that Yahya Mahmood, a Sunni Arab politician in Mosul, said that the killings of the Yazidis is part of a conspiracy by insurgents "against Mosul to incite civil war." The Times also gives some background into the recent Yazidi history in Iraq, and the source of some of the sectarian tensions surrounding the sect.

Nineveh provincial Deputy Gov. Khasro Goran said last month that former Baathists loyal to Hussein and "chauvinist Arabs" pretending to act on behalf of Islamic ideals were targeting the Kurdish population in Mosul, the provincial capital. This included trying to drive a wedge among the Kurds by accusing the Yazidis of not being authentic Kurds, Goran told the Kurdish newspaper Jamawar.

Yazidis practice an ancient religion that includes elements of Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. A key divine figure is the archangel Malak Taus, who is depicted as a royal blue peacock.

Under Ottoman rule, they were targeted for refusing to convert to Islam. Under Hussein's Sunni Arab-dominated regime, they were marginalized along with other non-Sunnis. Since the fall of Hussein, Yazidis say they have come under fire from both Sunni Arabs and Kurds because of their beliefs.

Finally, The Turkish Daily News reports that 215 Yazidis have been killed since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, and most of the killings "were perpetrated on religious grounds as fundamentalist and Islamist groups see [Yazidis] as infidels who either have to convert or be killed."

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