Suicide bombers targeted two major cities in Iraq on
Monday, striking security forces in the Sunni city of Fallujah and
Shiite pilgrims in the holy city of Karbala in the country’s south,
killing at least six people in each attack.
The bombings are an apparent attempt by the Islamic State group
to strike back as government troops’ advance on their stronghold in
the northern city of Mosul. The Sunni militant group claimed
responsibility for both bombings.
In Fallujah, the attack was carried out by twin suicide car
bombers in the city center — the first such incidents since Iraqi
forces in late June declared it “fully liberated” of Islamic State
militants after a monthlong operation aided by U.S.-led
airstrikes.
Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen Saad Maan said one of the
Fallujah bombers killed two policemen and wounded 17 people,
including nine civilians.
“They hit a security checkpoint,” he said, adding that traffic
had been heavy in the area and around 10 vehicles including an
ambulance had been damaged. The second bomber killed four people,
including two policemen.
IS claimed responsibility for the attack, posting videos online
of the bombers before the attack, their faces masked and
brandishing assault rifles. Fallujah was the first Iraqi city to
fall to IS, in January 2014. Since IS was driven out, families have
begun returning to the city, 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of
Baghdad.
Earlier in the day, a suicide bombing targeted the sacred Shiite
city of Karbala, killing at least six civilians in an attack also
claimed by IS.
According to Maan, the ministry spokesman, six suicide bombers
tried to sneak into Karbala from its western outskirts but security
forces detected and killed five of them. The sixth attacker broke
into a house in the city’s Ayn al-Tamer neighborhood, where he
detonated his suicide vest, killing six people and wounding another
six, Maan said.
The attack came as hundreds of thousands of faithful Shiites
have been walking to Karbala to commemorate the 7th century death
of Imam Hussein, Prophet Muhammad’s grandson and an iconic Shiite
martyr. The city, where Imam Hussein and his brother are buried, is
located some 90 kilometers (55 miles) south of Baghdad. On Sunday,
pilgrims are expected to converge on the city for the climax of a
40-day mourning period, known as al-Arbaeen.
In an online statement, the Islamic State group said it targeted
“polytheists ... in filthy Karbala.” It put the number of the
suicide bombers at five, saying they clashed for hours with the
security forces and set off their explosives consecutively when
they ran out ammunition.
The militants often exaggerate their claims. The Associated
Press could not verify the authenticity of the statement, but it
was posted on a militant website commonly used by the extremist
group.
Like other Sunni extremist groups, IS considers the Shiites
heretics and has frequently targeted Shiite civilians and places of
worship.
“We are walking all these long distances, we are not afraid of
terrorists, we are not afraid of Daesh,” said 56-year-old pilgrim
Sattar Hussein, using the Arabic acronym for IS. “We are not afraid
of anyone who defames Islam. And especially those who are targeting
the al-Arbaeen.”
Wearing a black traditional Arab dress, Hussein was among
hundreds of pilgrims leaving Baghdad on foot to head to Karbala
under tight security measures. Some of the marchers were carrying
religious flags, including some with a portrait depicting Imam
Hussein, as security forces set up check points to search them.
In southern Iraq’s Shiite heartland, Karbala is far from Mosul,
where a massive Iraqi military operation — launched last month and
backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes and paramilitary militias —
is underway to free the city, Iraq’s second-largest, from IS.
A U.N. spokesman said Monday that more than 54,000 people have
fled their homes as a result of the Iraqi military operation to
retake Mosul from IS militants. Farhan Haq said that number
represented an increase of 6,600 people since four days ago.
About three quarters of the displaced people are being shelter
in camps set up by the U.N. and its humanitarian partners and one
quarter are been housed in host communities, Haq said.
He added that the World Food Program has provided food
assistance to more than 100,000 people fleeing the conflict,
including a distribution to 25,000 people on Sunday in Gogjali, the
first neighborhood retaken inside Mosul.
On Sunday, a wave of attacks in and around Baghdad killed at
least 23 people and wounded 70 others. Many of the assaults
targeted Shiite pilgrims walking toward Karbala.