Officer, civilian killed, in attempted, fatal suicide bombings in Babil

Babil (IraqiNews.com) One security member and a civilian were killed on Monday and an officer was wounded in two attempted and fatal suicide bombings in Babil province, according to the Interior Ministry.

Ministry spokesperson Saad Maan said in a statement that the suicide bomber was riding a motorbike when he was detected by security forces at a northern entrance At al-Mosayyab region. The vehicle was detonated and the attacker died before he made it into the region.

In another incident, a suicide bomber and a civilian boarding a motorbike with him were killed while a security member was wounded when the attacker blew himself up in the same province, Maan said.

Violence and armed conflicts left 824 Iraqis dead and wounded during the month of May, according to a monthly count by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq which excludes security members deaths.

IS has escalated attacks across Iraqi provinces over the past months.The Iraqi government, currently focused on ousting the group from Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, is expected to aim at other IS holdouts.

Some security observers believe that even after IS’s main havens across Iraqi provinces are conquered, the group may still constitute a security threat through sleeper cells and lone wolf attacks. They believe attacks outside Mosul are designed to make up for the group’s losses there.