This is a big deal that a Sunnni ISIS attack happened south of Baghdad because this is all Shia Territory not Sunni.
begin quote from:
Suicide Attack Kills at Least 47 South of Iraqi Capital
| New York Times | - |
HILLAH,
Iraq - A suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden fuel truck into a
security checkpoint south of Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least 47
people and wounding dozens, officials said.
Middle East
Suicide Attack Kills at Least 47 South of Iraqi Capital
HILLAH,
Iraq — A suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden fuel truck into a
security checkpoint south of Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least 47
people and wounding dozens, officials said.
It
was the third massive bombing in and around Baghdad in a little over a
week, and although there was no immediate claim of responsibility, it
appeared to be part of a campaign by the Islamic State group to stage
attacks deep behind front lines in order to wreak havoc and force the
government to overextend its forces.
Crowds
gathered at the scene, picking through rubble and twisted car parts in
search of survivors. Smoke rose from smoldering cars that had been lined
up at the main checkpoint at the northern entrance to the city of
Hillah, located about 95 kilometers (60 miles) south of Baghdad.
"The
blast has completely destroyed the checkpoint and its buildings," Falah
al-Khafaji, a senior security official in Hillah, said as he stood at
the edge of the blast site. "More than 100 cars have been damaged."
The
attack bore the hallmarks of IS, which has carried out scores of
suicide bombings against security forces and the country's Shiite
majority. Hillah is in the country's mainly Shiite south, far from the
front lines of the war against IS.
Among
the dead were 39 civilians, while the rest were members of the security
forces. The attacker struck shortly after noon when the checkpoint was
crowded with dozens of cars, a police officer said. He added that up to
65 other people were wounded.
A
medical official confirmed the causality figures. Both officials spoke
on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release
information.
Iraq
has seen a spike in violence in the past month, with suicide attacks
claimed by IS killing more than 170 people. The attacks follow a string
of advances by Iraqi forces backed by U.S.-led airstrikes, including in
the western city of Ramadi, which was declared fully "liberated" by
Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition officials last month.
Such
attacks "force the government and the militias to look back and
reallocate resources and reassess," said Bill Roggio, a senior fellow at
the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, referring to the mainly
Shiite militias fighting alongside government forces.
IS
still controls large swaths of Iraq and neighboring Syria and has
declared an Islamic "caliphate" on the territory it holds. The extremist
group controls Iraq's second largest city, Mosul, as well as the city
of Fallujah, 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Baghdad.
At
least 670 Iraqis were killed last month due to ongoing violence, of
whom about two-thirds were civilians, according to U.N. figures.
___
Salaheddin
reported from Baghdad. Associated Press writers Mohammed Kaftan,
Murtada Faraj and Susannah George in Baghdad contributed to this report.
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