Six Iraqi soldiers injured as suicide bomber blows himself up in Anbar

Anbar (Iraqinews.com) – Six Iraqi soldiers were wounded Sunday after a suicide bomber wearing an explosive belt blew himself up in Hit district, 70 km west of Ramadi, Anbar.

“The troops were combing a party headquarters that was hit by a bomb explosion Saturday, when the suicide bomber targeted them,” a security source told IKH News.

According to the source, the soldiers were transferred to Hit General Hospital for treatment.

Earlier in the day, a suicide bomber blew himself up at al-Hal (solution) party in Hit.

According to security reports, Saturday’s attack has left five people killed and seven others injured so far, including a parliamentary hopeful.

Violence in the country has surged further with the emergence of Islamic State extremist militants who proclaimed an “Islamic Caliphate” in Iraq and Syria in 2014.

The surge in violence between armed groups and government forces has resulted in over 3 million internally displaced persons across Iraq and left more than 11 million in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Iraq declared the collapse of Islamic State’s territorial influence in Iraq last November with the recapture of Rawa, a city on Anbar’s western borders with Syria, which was the group’s last bastion in Iraq.