18 killed as suicide blast strikes Iraqi town
Four of the bomber’s accomplices shot dead in retaliation by security forces
KARBALA, IRAQ // Eighteen people were killed in the Iraqi oasis town of Ain Al Tamer when at least five attackers armed with suicide vests, rifles and grenades launched an attack near a wedding party, officials said yesterday.
“They were carrying Kalashnikovs and hand grenades, one of them blew himself up and the others were killed by the security forces,” said the head of central Euphrates operations command, Qais Khalaf. Lt Gen Qais Al Mohammedawi said five suicide bombers took part in Sunday’s attack, which also injured 26 people.
He said they were members of ISIL, which has stepped up attacks on security forces and the country’s Shiite majority in recent months as it has suffered a string of battlefield setbacks. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but all recent suicide operations in Iraq have been claimed by ISIL.
Ain Al Tamer is 50 kilometres from the Shiite holy city of Karbala and, on the edge of Anbar province, has long been a haven for extremists. Five members of the same family were among the dead, according to a health official from Karbala province.
“Some of them (the attackers) were wearing civilian clothes, others military clothes,” said Farhan Jassem Mohammed of the local council. “One of the attackers may have managed to flee. There is an ongoing search.”
Mahfouz Al Tamimi, a Karbala provincial council member, said the attack kicked off as people were attending a wedding party.
“Several among the dead and wounded were at the party,” he said.
Military commanders said the attackers came from the Anbar desert to the west, a mostly Sunni region that borders Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria.
Iraq’s security forces have notched up key victories in provincial Ramadi and the extremist bastion Fallujah this year.
ISIL recently lost control of an area in Anbar called Jazirat Al Khaldiyeh, a key crossroads that extremists used to move fighters and supplies.