ISIL fighters in Iraq launched a series of suicide bomb attacks in the city of Fallujah and an oasis town south of Baghdad on Monday, killing at least 15 people and wounding dozens.
The attacks came as Iraqi forces and their allies continue fighting ISIL in the northern city of Mosul, the armed group’s last major population center in the country.
A bomber drove his explosive-laden car into a security checkpoint and detonated it at the entrance of Nazal district in central Fallujah, some 50 km west of Baghdad.
Another bomber blew up his explosive vest at a police headquarters in central Fallujah.
“Five military personnel and four civilians were killed in the attacks,”
-medic Ahmed Jassim told Anadolu Agency.
He said another 10 military personnel and 16 civilians were injured in the bombings.
Daesh terrorist group swiftly claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement circulated on social media.
Later Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier General 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.
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 Brig Gen 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, Brig Gen Maan said.
