ISIS CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY FOR BAGHDAD SUICIDE BOMBINGS KILLING 5

ISIS CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY FOR BAGHDAD SUICIDE BOMBINGS KILLING 5

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Islamic State (ISIS) have claimed responsibility for a twin explosion that rocked the city of Baghdad late on Monday, killing five civilians and injuring several others. Two suicide bombers blew themselves up in the Shiite Abu al-Fadhel al-Abbas mosque compound in al-Turath district, southwest Baghdad, according to AFP.

A mourning ceremony was taking place at a Husseiniyah, a site of Shiite congregation, inside the mosque compound when the explosions occurred. A video circulated on social media appears to show those injured bring taken to hospital. Islamic State took responsibility for the twin blast in Baghdad on Monday, according to one of their propaganda outlets, claiming to have killed and wounded 70 people.

An official statement on the incident has yet to be made by the Iraqi interior ministry. ISIS was declared defeated in Iraq in December 2017, but continues to pose a serious security threat to the country. Militants have formed sleeper cells and resorted to underground tactics, taking advantage of security vacuums that have formed due to Iraqi and Kurdish territorial disputes in these provinces.

There are daily reports of ISIS sleeper cells carrying out hit-and-run attacks on security personnel and infrastructure, and the kidnapping and killing local officials and civilians – primarily in the western Iraqi provinces of Anbar, Nineveh and Saladin. While attacks have primarily taken place in the north and west of the country Baghdad has not been left unscathed by ISIS’ resurgence. In late June, the group carried out a suicide bombing in a Shiite mosque in eastern Baghdad, killing at least seven people.

Iraqi forces launched the large-scale Operation Will of Victory military offensive on July 7 alongside the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) and with the assistance of Iraqi and US-led coalition airstrikes. The operation, aiming to eradicate what remains of ISIS, is taking place in the provinces of Anbar, Nineveh and Saladin.

Source: Rudaw- 17.07.2019

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