Gunmen kidnap 5 Yazidis in Mosul

NINEWA / IraqiNews.com: Five Yazidis were kidnapped on Tuesday by gunmen in military uniform in west of Mosul, according to a security source. “Gunmen in military uniforms kidnapped five Yazidis near a village in al-Baaj district, west of Mosul,” the source told IraqiNews.com news agency, noting that the gunmen attacked three cars, kidnapping the men and left women. Yazidis are primarily ethnic Kurds. Most of them live near Mosul, with smaller communities in Armenia, Georgia, Iran, Russia, Syria, and Turkey. The estimates of their population size vary, partially due to the Yazidi tradition of secrecy about their religious beliefs. Yazidis worship seven angels, in the form of peacocks, who are subordinate to the supreme god who created the universe. SH (TP) 935