A second suicide bomber blows himself up after security siege in Diyala

Diyala (IraqiNews.com) A second suicide bomber blew himself up on Sunday after security forces besieged him in a region in Diyala, hours after a deadly suicide bombing left casualties, a local official said.

Adnan al-Tamimi, chairman of Maqdadia municipality, northeast od Diyala, was quoted by Alghad Press saying that a second suicide bomber was forced to blow himself up after police showered him with gunfire at al-Jihad neighborhood.

Tamimi said the explosion left no casualties, adding that a curfew remains in place since late Saturday, when another attacker was also forced to blow himself up being encircled by security forces in the same area. The explosion killed a police officer and wounded seven others, including three security members, Saad Maan, a spokesperson of the Interior Ministry, said, adding that forces were going after two other suicide attackers.

The first attacker possessed hand grenades which he hurled at civilians in the area, Maan noted.

Violence and armed conflicts left 297 Iraqis dead and wounded during the month of ِAugust, according to a monthly count by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq which excludes security members deaths.

Islamic State militants have launched occasional attacks against security forces and civilians in Diyala over the past few months, coinciding with government operations that managed to recapture the city of Mosul, Islamic State’s largest bastion in Iraq, and the town of Tal Afar, their last holdout in Nineveh province.

The government and its military commanders intend to wage further offensives at other Islamic State havens across the country, including Diyala, seeking to mark an end to the self-proclaimed “caliphate” the group declared  back in 2014.