Updated: Civilian killed, 21 wounded in Kirkuk suicide attacks: Ministry
Iraqi security forces detain a boy after removing a suicide vest from him in Kirkuk in Iraq. Archival photo. Reuters.
“Preliminary information indicates that the suicide attackers were hiding in one of the houses in Kirkuk, which left a civilian killed and 21 others wounded,” the cell said in a statement.
Brig. Gen. Saad Maan, the ministry’s spokesperson said in a statement, “two terrorist attacks carried out by two suicide bombers took place on Atlas street in central Kirkuk.”
“The two blasts left a civilian killed and 16 others wounded, as preliminary information,” he added.
Violence in the country has surged further with the emergence of Islamic State Sunni extremist militants who proclaimed an “Islamic Caliphate” in Iraq and Syria in 2014.
114 Iraqi civilians were killed, while 244 others were wounded as result of terrorism, violence and armed conflicts, according to a monthly release by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), issued on Wednesday.
Baghdad was the worst affected Governorate, coming in the first place with 177 civilian casualties (38 killed, 139 injured). Anbar province followed with 36 killed and 55 injured, and then Kirkuk with 18 killed and 33 injured.
The Iraqi capital has seen almost daily bombings and armed attacks against security members, paramilitary troops and civilians since the Iraqi government launched a wide-scale campaign to retake Islamic State-occupied areas in 2016.