The Iranian foreign ministry deplored the Sunday terrorist attack against the country's pilgrims traveling from Samarra to Baghdad, calling it as "brutal and inhumane". RNA - "The despised and defeated terrorist groups in Iraq are still having the illusion of showing off themselves, and based on their wrong imagination, they are after hitting a blow at the bonds and unity between the Iranian and Iraqi nations by committing such inhumane crimes but certainly, they will not attain their ominous goals," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said.
He added that such crimes will further strengthen the two countries' determination to uproot terrorism and annihilate the remnants of criminals.
A bus travelling from Samarra to Baghdad was targeted about 30 miles (50 kilometers) North of Baghdad on Sunday by unidentified gunmen, the officials said.
They added that it was carrying ten people and seven Iranian passengers were wounded and taken to hospital, including one woman in serious condition.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
According to Fars News Agency, Morteza Aqaei, the director general of Iran’s Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization, confirmed the news, saying the pilgrims were targeted by terrorists who opened fire on the bus.
Seven people were transferred to a local hospital in the city of Balad and the rest to Kadhimiya hospital, he said, adding three of them were in critical condition.
According to Aqaei, an Iraqi assistant driver was also among the wounded. The pilgrims, he said, hail from the city of Parsabad Moghan in the Northwestern Ardabil province.
847/940