Thursday, March 28, 2024

Baghdad

UPDATED: Police kill 5 suicide bombers north of Baghdad

 UPDATED: Police kill 5 suicide bombers north of Baghdad

Explosive belt.

Explosive belt.
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi police killed on Monday 5 suicide bombers شف at two separate regions north of Baghdad, the capital’s security command said in a statement.

A statement by the Interior Ministry’s Baghdad Operations said two bombers clad in explosive belts were killed at al-Salman area, north of Baghdad.

Another trio, also putting on explosive vests, was killed at Sheikh Hamad area after an exchange of fires with the forces, the department said. Grenades were found in their possessions and their explosive belts were defused, according to the service.

Violence surged in Iraq with the emergence of Islamic State militants who took over large areas of the country in 2014. Baghdad has been witnessing almost daily bombings targeting civilians and security personnel. IS militants have said they had been responsible for several bloody explosions that hit the capital in the past weeks, bringing the governorate municipal and security officials under critics’ fire.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) said violence in the country left 19000 casualties in nine months of 2016.

Observers believe Islamic State have begun to escalate attacks outside the city of Mosul, where the group has been losing ground and personnel since October, so as to relieve pressure by government forces on that front and to divert attention from group losses.

While losing Mosul could be the severest blow to the group’s existence in Iraq, some observers believe attacks outside the province prove that the extremist group can still pose a security threat for all cities.

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