Iraq sect attack toll rises
The death toll in a series of suicide attacks on Tuesday in northern Iraq has risen to more than 400.
Some reports on Thursday suggested the the number of dead could be as high as 500, with at least 300 people injured, in what appeared to be an attack on Iraq's Yazidi sect.
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The blasts took place on Tuesday, when suicide bombers blew up four lorries laden with explosives in villages west of Mosul.
Qataniyah and Adnaniyah are inhabited by the ancient Yazidi religious sect.
Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Garver, US military spokesman, said: "We're looking at al-Qaeda as the prime suspect."
The US has condemned the bombings as "barbaric attacks on innocent civilians".
'It was horrible'
Jalal Mohammed, an Iraqi army captain who arrived at the village of Qataniyah with his unit after the explosion, said: "Everything was destroyed. Houses, buildings, shops. It was horrible. There was a huge number of casualties bleeding all over the place. There were pieces of flesh everywhere."
Whole families were wiped out in the attacks.
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