Stores selling alcohol have been targeted by militant groups Unidentified gunmen killed nine Kurdish Yazidi shop owners who serve alcohol in Baghdad, on Wednesday evening. The shop owners were killed at the intersection of Rabeai Street in the Zayouna area east of Baghdad. The government have been mainly quiet on the incident.
Eyewitnesses told Arabstoday that police were dissuaded from intercepting the gunmen as they were heavily armed. According to the witnesses the gunmen blocked the street with their cars, before executing the shop owners with gun shots to the head from close range.
Security authorities have declined to comment about the incident. However, an eyewitness speaking under the conditions of anonymity described the attack, saying "four militants directed their guns towards federal police stationed nearby.” He added that the rest of the gunmen emerged from the other cars, carrying pistols and began to open fire.
The assailants fled before they could be arrested.
The Kurdistan Alliance bloc condemned the attack in a statement issued on Thursday. The bloc said that this “systematic murder” of Kurdish Yazidis will result in “dangerous consequences,” unless security authorities take more action in pursuing the "terrorist murderers."
Stores selling alcoholic beverages in Baghdad have been targeted by militant groups on several occasions recently; they were also subject to closure and boycott due to the beliefs of some extreme militants.