Suicide Bomber Kills 30 near Iraq's Karbala, Daesh Claims Responsibility


Suicide Bomber Kills 30 near Iraq's Karbala, Daesh Claims Responsibility

TEHRAN (Tasnim) - A suicide bomber blew himself up in a market in the town of Musayyib, south of Baghdad, on Friday killing at least 30 people.

A woman detonated her explosive belt in a market east of the Shiite holy city of Karbala on Friday, killing at least 30 and wounding 35, Iraqi security sources said.

“A suicide bomber blew himself up in Musayyib market, causing 20 civilian martyrs,” an interior ministry spokesman said.

At least 34 other people were wounded in the attack in the centre of Musayyib, a town that lies about 60 kilometers (35 miles) south of the capital, a police officer and a medic at the local hospital said, Reuters reported.

A source at Musayyib hospital said at least four of the wounded were in very serious condition following the blast, which rocked the market at around 11:30 am (0830 GMT).

The attack in Musayyib came hours after another, apparently failed attack in the Shiite shrine city of Karbala, a few kilometers (couple of miles) to the southwest.

Four civilians were wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance of the city’s main bus station early Friday, police sources said.

Both attacks were claimed by the Daesh (also known as ISIL or ISIS) terrorist group through its propaganda agency Amaq.

ISIL has carried out dozens of deadly suicide bombings targeting civilians but Iraq has been on heightened alert since the start of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

More than 40 people were killed and dozens wounded in a spate of attacks on May 30, a few days after the beginning of Ramadan, including a devastating blast at an ice cream shop in central Baghdad’s Karrada neighborhood.

It was during Ramadan last year that ISIL carried out its deadliest ever attack in the Iraqi capital with a truck bomb that set two shopping arcades ablaze, also in Karrada, resulting in more than 320 deaths.

The bombings in Baghdad come as Iraqi forces fight to retake the last ISIL-held areas of Mosul, a city that was Daesh's emblematic stronghold.

Iraqi forces are almost eight months into a massive operation to recapture the second city and have already taken back its whole eastern side and much of the west.

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