Iraqi pulls over for a drink, police alerted by booby-trap fears
A booby-trap vehicle detonation. File Photo
Diyala (IraqiNews.com) An Iraqi car driver triggered a security alert on Wednesday when he parked his vehicle at an unlicensed area to have a drink, a police commander in the province said.
Alsumaria News quoted Ghaleb al-Attiya, spokesperson of the Diyala police command, saying that “a driver parked his vehicle on the side of Tabu, a main street in Baqubah (the capital of Diyala), and went for a glass of juice at a nearby shop”.
The street contains several government facilities, including passports and health offices.
He added that “the driver breached security instructions which disallow parking by roadsides”, revealing that security members futilely searched for the driver, which aroused their suspicions that the car was booby-trapped, and therefore halted traffic on the road for half an hour.
Iraq has seen almost daily car bombings and armed attacks since Islamic State militants emerged in 2014 and occupied a third of the country’s territories. Attacks continue even after the Iraqi government declared victory over the militant group late last year.
As many as 3,298 civilians were killed and 4,781 others were wounded in 2017, excluding Anbar civilian casualty figures for November and December, which are not available, UNAMI said in a report in December.