Gulf News

Attacks kill 80

COORDINATE­D STRIKES TARGET RESTAURANT AND SECURITY CHECKPOST ON ROUTE USED BY SHIITE PILGRIMS

- BY TAMER EL GHOBASHY AND MUSTAFA SALIM — Washington Post

A coordinate­d attack on a restaurant and a security checkpoint in southern Iraq killed more than 80 people yesterday, police and health officials said, in a rare spasm of violence targeting a route used by Shiite pilgrims to visit their holiest shrines. Patrons in the eatery included Iranian and Iraqi pilgrims travelling north towards the shrines in Karbala and Najaf.

Acoordinat­ed attack on a restaurant and a security checkpoint in southern Iraq killed more than 80 people yesterday, police and health officials said, in a rare spasm of violence targeting a route used by Shiite pilgrims visiting their holiest shrines.

Gunmen wearing military uniforms stormed into a restaurant in Nasiriyah, about 200 miles south of Baghdad, around lunch time. They opened fire on the patrons there, who included Iranian and Iraqi pilgrims travelling north toward the Shiite shrines in Karbala and Najaf, the head of the provincial health department said.

Moments later, a car bomb exploded at a police checkpoint near the restaurant, which sits along Highway 1, the road that connects Baghdad with Dhi Qar province, where the attack took place.

An additional 93 people were injured in the two attacks, which Daesh later claimed in a statement released online by its propaganda arm. The group has been steadily losing territory, most recently Mosul, its largest stronghold, and the smaller city of Tal Afar, but it has shown an ability to still launch insurgents­tyle raids in areas it once held.

Iraqi officials have voiced fears the group would step up its attacks on civilians as its grip on territory recedes.

Because the south is home to the Iraq’s most revered Shiite shrines, it is among the bestsecure­d areas of the country and has rarely been the target of large-scale attacks. At the same time, though, many security forces assigned to the south have been drawn into battles against Daesh in the north and west, leaving some holes that terrorists have exploited.

Currently, Iraqi forces backed by tribal fighters are manoeuvrin­g into position in the western desert bordering Syria to launch an offensive against one of the last bastions of the Daesh.

After driving Daesh out of Nineveh province earlier this year, the Iraqi government set its eyes on Hawija, north of Baghdad, as well as the towns of Al Qaim, Rawa and Anna in the western desert.

On Tuesday an AFP correspond­ent who toured the region saw several artillery units positionin­g themselves around Rawa and Anna, around 100 kilometres from the border with Syria. Moving in clouds of dust, gunners set up their equipment in the rugged terrain and dug trenches before test-firing mortar rounds.

Further in the distance the infantry deployed, backed by tribal fighters.

Shaikh Qatari Kahlan, who commands one of the tribal units, said his forces were ready for battle.

“All the tribes wanted to take part to liberate the region and fight against Daesh,” he told AFP. “Tribe members inside Anna and Rawa are giving us informatio­n and assuring us that the battle will be ferocious but quick,” he added, pointing an automatic rifle at the horizon.

Al Qaim lies closer to the Syria border and just across from Deir Al Zor province where Daesh militants are facing separate offensives from US-led Arab-Kurdish forces and government troops backed by Russia.

 ?? Courtesy: Twitter ?? Security officials look at the wreckage of a vehicle at the blast site in Nasiriyah, southern Iraq, yesterday.
Courtesy: Twitter Security officials look at the wreckage of a vehicle at the blast site in Nasiriyah, southern Iraq, yesterday.
 ?? Courtesy: Twitter ?? Makeshift hospital beds were arranged for the people who were injured in a gun attack and a blast in southern Iraq.
Courtesy: Twitter Makeshift hospital beds were arranged for the people who were injured in a gun attack and a blast in southern Iraq.
 ?? Courtesy: Twitter ?? The injured being shifted to a hospital. At least 80 people were injured in a gun attack and a blast in southern Iraq.
Courtesy: Twitter The injured being shifted to a hospital. At least 80 people were injured in a gun attack and a blast in southern Iraq.

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