2007 Mosul massacre
Encyclopedia
The 2007 Mosul massacre was a mass killing that took place on April 23, 2007 in Mosul
, in northern Iraq. A bus carrying workers from the Mosul
Textile Factory was hijacked by unidentified attackers. The attackers checked the passengers' identity cards, telling Muslim
s and Christian
s to get off the bus. They then drove the bus to eastern Mosul
with 23 remaining passengers, all Yezidi Kurds, where the hostages were made to lie face down in front of a wall and shot.
The murders were considered to be a reprisal against the stoning
of a Kurdish Yezidi girl two weeks earlier. The girl, Du’a Khalil Aswad, aged 17 from the village of Bashika, was stoned to death by a large crowd of men in an honour killing, and it was claimed, although never confirmed, that she had converted to Islam
. The incident was recorded on mobile phones, but such recordings were not seen by the world until they were distributed over the internet a few weeks after the event. Iraqi authorities have arrested a number of individuals in connection with the killing.
Mosul
Mosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...
, in northern Iraq. A bus carrying workers from the Mosul
Mosul
Mosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...
Textile Factory was hijacked by unidentified attackers. The attackers checked the passengers' identity cards, telling Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s and Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
s to get off the bus. They then drove the bus to eastern Mosul
Mosul
Mosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...
with 23 remaining passengers, all Yezidi Kurds, where the hostages were made to lie face down in front of a wall and shot.
The murders were considered to be a reprisal against the stoning
Stoning
Stoning, or lapidation, is a form of capital punishment whereby a group throws stones at a person until the person dies. No individual among the group can be identified as the one who kills the subject, yet everyone involved plainly bears some degree of moral culpability. This is in contrast to the...
of a Kurdish Yezidi girl two weeks earlier. The girl, Du’a Khalil Aswad, aged 17 from the village of Bashika, was stoned to death by a large crowd of men in an honour killing, and it was claimed, although never confirmed, that she had converted to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
. The incident was recorded on mobile phones, but such recordings were not seen by the world until they were distributed over the internet a few weeks after the event. Iraqi authorities have arrested a number of individuals in connection with the killing.