A bomb ripped through a procession marking Ashura in the northern Iraqi town of Tuz Khurmatu, outside Kirkuk, killing five and wounding 27, including five women and one police officer. The attack came a day after three Shi'ites were killed when bombs struck separate Ashura processions in Baghdad. Over the past six days, 32 have been killed and more than 160 wounded in violence targeting Ashura, including attacks on worshippers in Karbala and Baghdad. (AFP, Dec. 28)

Two separate bombs also targeted Christians that morning in Mosul, striking the Chaldean church of St. George and Syriac Orthodox Church of St. Thomas. The death toll so far is three dead—a Chaldean Christian and two Muslims—as well as several wounded. (Asia News, Dec. 28)

See our last posts on Iraq's sectarian war and the struggle for Kurdistan.

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