۳۷ killed, ۶۲ injured in attack against shrine in Iraq’s Salahuddin

Rasa – At least ۳۷ civilians have lost their lives and ۶۲ others sustained injuries when ISIL militants carried out a bomibng and shooting attack near a holy Shi’a Muslim mausoleum north of the Iraqi capital.

News ID: 422546

Date: 08 July 2016 - 16:13

RNA – Security sources said a militant blew himself up at the external gate of the mausoleum of Sayyid Muhammad ibn Ali al-Hadi in the city of Balad, situated 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of Baghdad, late on Thursday.

Several militants then stormed into the holy site and started shooting at pilgrims. Another bomber also detonated his explosives in the middle of the crowd, who were celebrating Eid al-Fitr festivities, which mark the end of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, Reuters reported.

Security forces killed a third bomber and defused his explosives, the Iraqi Joint Operations Command said in a statement.

The ISIL Takfiri group later claimed responsibility for the act of terror.

The militants also fired several mortar rounds at the mausoleum during the attack.

The development comes as the death toll from Sunday’s car bomb attacks in busy commercial areas of the capital has climbed to 292.

The first attack occurred at about 1 am local time (2200 GMT Saturday), when a bomber blew up his refrigerator truck packed with explosives at a crowded thoroughfare in the Baghdad’s south-central neighbourhood of Karradah.

The area was busy at the time, as people were eating out and shopping late at night for Eid al-Fitr.

At least four buildings were severely damaged or partly collapsed, including a shopping mall that is thought to be the main target of the bombing. Burnt-out shells of a lot of vehicles parked in the area were scattered all around.

Shortly afterwards, a roadside bomb explosion ripped through Shallal market in the capital’s northern neighbourhood of Sha’b.

The Takfiri ISIL terrorist group later claimed responsibility for the attacks, which it said were aimed at the Shi’a neighbourhoods of the Iraqi capital.

The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq says a total of 662 Iraqis were killed and another 1,457 wounded in acts of terrorism, violence and armed conflict in June.

According to the UN mission, the number of civilian fatalities stood at 382. Violence also claimed the lives of 280 members of the Iraqi security forces. A great portion of the fatalities was recorded in Baghdad, where 236 civilians were killed.

The northern and western parts of Iraq have been plagued by gruesome violence ever since ISIL terrorists mounted an offensive in the country in June 2014.

Iraqi government forces, backed by fighters from allied Popular Mobilization Forces, have been fighting the militants.

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