A U.S. air strike killed a man suspected of directing the Aug. 14 truck bombings in northern Iraq that caused the deaths of more than 400 people, the deadliest single terrorist attack since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, military officials said Sunday.The man, Abu Mohammed Afri, was a leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, U.S. officials said, and was responsible for the synchronized bombings that targeted the Yazidi religious sect, a minority that is neither Muslim nor Christian.
The Yazidi bombings leveled neighborhoods of crude earthen homes and shops, burying victims and overwhelming medical facilities in Nineveh province. Hundreds of others were wounded and hundreds of homes were destroyed.
Iraqi and U.S. officials said the coordinated detonations of four trucks bore the trademark of al Qaeda affiliates. Many Muslims view the Yazidi as nonbelievers for following pre-Islamic beliefs that reference Christianity and Islam.
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