A suicide bomber killed 23 people at the funeral for a member of the Shabak minority group Saturday, the latest in a months-long wave of bloodshed plaguing the country. The funeral -- being held in the town of Basshiqah, just outside the northern city of Mosul -- was for a man who had died of natural causes, officials said.

The 30,000-strong Shabak community mostly lives near the Turkish border.

The attack was one of several to strike predominantly Sunni Arab northern Iraq, beset by growing instability in recent months as anti-government protests have combined with spillover from neighboring Syria's years-long civil war to give militant groups increased room to maneuver. A surge in nationwide violence has left more than 4,000 people in Iraq dead so far this year and has sparked concerns that the country is slipping back into the all-out sectarian war that plagued it in 2006 and 2007.

The bomber killed 26 people and wounded 46, according to Sheeth Abed, a doctor at the city's hospital.

Members of the Shabak group speak a distinct language and largely follow a faith that is a blend of Shiite Islam and local beliefs, and they are frequently targeted in attacks by Sunni militants linked to al-Qaeda.

Also Saturday, two other attacks in Nineveh province, of which Mosul is the capital, left a policeman dead and three others wounded.

An explosion in Dujail, which also lies north of Baghdad, killed two others.

Authorities have sought to combat the bloodshed, at its worth level since 2008, with a range of anti-militant operations and tight traffic rules in the capital, but Iraq has continued to suffer deadly attacks.

Officials insist a weeks-long campaign targeting armed groups is yielding results, but the government has faced criticism for not doing more to defuse anger in the Sunni Arab community over alleged ill-treatment at the hands of the Shiite-led authorities.

Analysts and diplomats say the groups exploit that contention to recruit and carry out attacks.



Al Jazeera

