Iranians among 52 dead in Iraq attacks

Gunmen and suicide car bombers opened fire on a restaurant before getting into a car and blowing themselves up at a nearby security checkpoint. The attackers were disguised as members of a Shia paramilitary group

Nasiriyah, Iraq: Gunmen and suicide car bombers killed at least 52 people, including Iranians, near the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State. The attackers opened fire on a restaurant before blowing themselves up at a checkpoint.

Nasiriyah (Iraq), Sept. 14: Gunmen and suicide car bombers on Thursday killed at least 52 people, including Iranians, near the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group.

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 jihadist group 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 Shiite province of Dhiqar of which Nasiriyah is the capital.Many of the wounded were in serious condition, he told AFP.

The area targeted is on a highway used by Shiite pilgrims and visitors from neighbouring Iran to travel to the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala further

north, although Dhiqar has previously been spared the worst of Iraq’s violence. IS 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 Shiites”. The toll makes it the deadliest IS attack in Iraq since pro-government forces drove the jihadists out of second city Mosul in July. Adding to the pressure on the jihadists, Iraqi forces also recaptured the city of Tal Afar and region from IS on August 31.