Iraq's Yazidis in Crossfire In Baghdad
On May 14, 2013, 12 employees of an alcohol shop in Baghdad, 10 of whom were Yazidis, were killed by armed assailants amid increasing religious extremism in the country.
![IRAQ-UNREST-ALCOHOL A shopkeeper arranges bottles in a shop in the Zayouna area of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, on May 15, 2013, the day after gunmen armed with silenced weapons shot dead 12 people at a row of alcohol shops in the Zayouna area of the capital. AFP PHOTO/ KHALIL AL-MURSHIDI (Photo credit should read KHALIL AL-MURSHIDI/AFP/Getty Images)](/sites/default/files/styles/article_hero_medium/public/almpics/2013/05/baghdadalcohol.jpg/baghdadalcohol.jpg?h=2d235432&itok=976T1CbB)
On the evening of May 14, 2013, dozens of people had gathered in front of a small shop in Baghdad to buy alcohol. Rabie Square — a vital commercial center in central Baghdad — was filled with the sounds of cars and shoppers as unidentified assailants emerged from four-wheel drive vehicles and opened heavy fire on alcohol vendors and workers, the majority of whom were Yazidi youth.
In a phone conversation with Al-Monitor, an officer on the federal police force said: "A group of armed assailants emerged from four vehicles in the Ghadeer neighborhood in eastern Baghdad. They entered a shop that sells alcoholic beverages and opened fire on those in the shop using guns fitted with silencers. This resulted in 12 people being killed, 10 of whom were Yazidi."