IS attacks in south Iraq leave 52 dead

THE DEATH TOLL MAKES THIS THE DEADLIEST ATTACK IN IRAQ SINCE PROGOVT FORCES DROVE ISLAMIC STATE OUT OF MOSUL IN JULY.

NASIRIYAH: Gunmen and suicide car bombers killed at least 52 people, including Iranian nationals, near the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah on Thursday, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State.

The attackers struck at midday, opening fire on a restaurant before getting into a car and blowing themselves up at a nearby security checkpoint, officials said.

Security sources said the attackers were disguised as members of the Hashed al-shaabi, a mainly Shia paramilitary alliance which has fought alongside the army and police against the Islamic State in northern Iraq.

The toll from the attacks was 52 dead and 91 wounded, said Abdel Hussein al-jabri, deputy health chief for the mainly Shia province of Dhiqar, of which Nasiriyah is the capital.

The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement carried by its Amaq propaganda arm.

It said several suicide bombers had staged the assault on a restaurant and a security checkpoint, killing “dozens of Shias”.

The group regularly stages attacks in Iraq, where it has also lost swathes of territory to Us-backed pro-government forces.

Thursday’s attacks came as Iraqi forces backed by tribal fighters close in one of the last IS bastions in the country — the Al-qaim area on the border with war-ravaged Syria.

RUSSIA FIRES MISSILES AT ISIS STRONGHOLD Russia’s military fired seven cruise missiles on Thursday at Islamic State targets in the eastern Syrian province of Deir el-zour as pro-government forces closed in on the militants holed up in the eponymous capital.

Russian defence ministry spokesman Maj Gen Igor Konashenkov told reporters — invited aboard a Russian frigate — that intelligence showed the missiles hit the targets southeast of Deir el-zour, destroying a command centre, a communications hub, an ammunition depot and an unknown number of IS fighters.