Officials say car bomb in northern Iraq kills 9

BAGHDAD (AP) — Authorities in Iraq say a car bomb has killed nine people belonging to an ethnic minority in the country's north.

Police officials said the explosion Wednesday night was in Bay Boukh, a village inhabited by families from the Shabak ethnic group. The village is near the city of Mosul, 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad.

The Shabak have their own distinct language and belief system. Police say about 30 people were wounded in the attack.

Hospital officials confirmed the casualties. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release details to journalists.

According to the United Nations, 8,868 people were killed in Iraq last year — the country's highest death toll since a peak of sectarian bloodletting in 2007.