BAGHDAD (AP):

Four suicide bombers hit Yazidi communities with nearly simultaneous attacks yesterday, killing at least 175 people and wounding 200 others, said Iraqi military and local officials in north-west Iraq.

The death toll was the highest in a concerted attack since November 23 2006 when 215 people were killed bymortar fire and five car bombs in Baghdad's Shiite enclave of Sadr City.

The bombs tore through the districts near Qahataniya, 120 kilometres (75 miles) west of Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city, said Abdul-Rahman al-Shimiri, the top government official in the area, and Iraq army Capt. Mohammed Ahmed. They said at least 30 homes were destroyed in the bombings.

Yazidis are members of an ancient, primarily Kurdish, religious sect that worships an angel figure that some Christians and Muslims believe to be the devil.

Dhakil Qassim, mayor of Sinjar, a town near the attacks, said al-Qaida in Iraq was behind the bombings, citing what he said were Kurdish government intelligence reports.

"This is a terrorist act and the people targeted are poor Yazidis who have nothing to do with the armed conflict," Qassim said. "Al-Qaida fighters are very active in this area near the Syrian border."

Witnesses also said U.S. helicopters swooped into the area to evacuate the wounded to hospitals in Dahuk, a Kurdish city near the Turkish border.