Two suicide bombs kill 26 at a wedding

An Iraqi man and his granddaughter fleeing their home in Mosul while Iraqi forces battle with ISIS on March 8, right before the wedding suicide attack.  An Iraqi man and his granddaughter fleeing their home in Mosul while Iraqi forces battle with ISIS on March 8, right before the wedding suicide attack. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

5 May 2017
On March 8, at least 26 people, including many children, were killed by two suicide bombs at a wedding party in a village in the north of Iraq.

Iraq’s Defence Ministry said that the double attack occurred in the evening when two suicide bombers wearing explosive-laden belts walked into a wedding party in al-Hajaj village, near the city of Tikrit and about 80 miles north of the capital Baghdad. More than 60 people were wounded. According to the news agency Reuters, two more blasts and clashes against fighters happened after security forces intervention. In order to avoid further attacks, Iraqi soldiers restricted access to the area and imposed a curfew. The wedding party was for a family affiliates with an anti-ISIS tribe in Iraq's western Anbar province, whence it had been displaced.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but suspicions fell on Islamic State, which has committed similar attacks in the past in this area, often with the aim of moving attention from other battles. Indeed, at the moment of blasts Iraqi forces were successfully fighting ISIS militants in Mosul, a large city in the north of Iraq that is in part still controlled by Islamic State. Mosul is considered the last major ISIS stronghold in Iraq and on March 8, before the wedding suicide attack, Iraqi soldiers took full control of one of the main road of the town. Also the near cities of Tikrit and Samarra, both in the north of Iraq, were hit by ISIS bomb attacks in November 2016, apparently still with the intention of create a diversion.  

 

Per maggiori informazioni:

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/03/suicide-bomb-blasts-hit-wedding-iraq-tikrit-170308201836685.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-mosul-idUSKBN16F134

http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-iraq-bombing-20170308-story.html

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