At least 60 killed in ISIS suicide bomb attack in Iraq
Middle East, News March 6, 2016 Comments Off on At least 60 killed in ISIS suicide bomb attack in IraqISIS claims responsibility for truck bomb that killed at least 60 people at Iraqi police checkpoint south of Baghdad
A truck bomb exploded at a crowded police checkpoint outside the city of Hilla, south of Baghdad, on Sunday, killing at least 60 people, officials and medical sources said.
Hilla is the capital of Babylon province, a predominantly Shia region with some Sunni presence.
Faleh al-Radhi, the head of the security committee at Babil provincial council, said “the attack was carried against a checkpoint at the northern entrance to Hilla.”
“It’s the largest bombing in the Hilla province to date,” Falah Al-Radhi, head of the provincial security committee told Reuters. “The checkpoint, the nearby police station were destroyed as well as some houses and dozens of cars.”
ISIS claimed responsibility for the suicide attack in a posting on the website of the Amaq news agency, which supports the ultra-hardline Sunni group. “A martyr’s operation with a truck bomb hit the Babylon Ruins checkpoint at the entrance of the city of Hilla, killing and wounding dozens,” the statement on the Amaq website said, according to Reuters.
The wreckage of a vehicle is moved after bombing in Iraq kills 60 on 6 March 2016. Photo: REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani
Iraq has seen an upsurge in violence over the last month, with a number of suicide attacks taking place in and around Baghdad.
According to United Nations figures, at least 670 Iraqis were killed last month due to on-going violence, of whom about two-thirds were civilians.
Related Articles
IRIA Exclusive
IRIA Publications
Regions
