Suicide bomber kills 15 in Iraq

It is the second time the minority has been attacked in as many months. A suicide attack at a funeral in another Shabak village near Mosul in September killed at least 20 people.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, though suicide bombings and car bombings are a favorite tactic of Al-Qaida's local branch. It frequently targets Shiites, whom it considers heretics, and those seen as closely allied to the Shiite-led government in Baghdad.

Thursday's attack follows a car bombing in a Shiite village outside Mosul that is inhabited by ethnic Turkomen on Oct. 6. That blast, near a school in the small village of Qabak, killed 15, including a dozen children and their school principal.

Iraq's third-largest city, Mosul, and the area around it have long been a hotbed for hard-to-rout Sunni insurgents.