Two bombs striking neighbourhoods in Iraq’s eastern Diyala province killed at least 42 people Monday night, officials said – less than a month after it was the scene of one of the deadliest attacks to hit the country in recent years.
Advertisement
The larger of the two attacks hit a crowded marketplace in Huwaidar, in northern Baquba, killing 51 people and wounding at least 80 others.
“Women and children were among the deaths, while some 20 wounded people are in critical conditions”, the source said.
A separate blast to the east of Baquba killed a further seven people and wounded 25.
“A suicide bomber driving a booby-trapped vehicle blew himself up in the middle of the central market area in Huwaydir”, a police lieutenant-colonel said.
It’s not confirmed if the third attack was by IS militants or how numerous victims from the bombings were civilians.
The government in Baghdad has promised to find those responsible and to better protect Diyala, but residents’ anger is rife in the region.
In January Iraqi officials declared victory over the insurgents in Diyala province, which borders Iran, after security forces and Shi’ite paramilitaries drove them out of towns and villages there.
The Khan Bani Saad blast came on the eve of the feast marking the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan and shocked the nation.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack, in a statement distributed on Twitter, saying an Iraqi fighter named Abdullah al-Ansai detonated his explosives-laden vehicle in the predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Huwaydah.
Advertisement
The video, which is of higher quality than previous videos by the group in Afghanistan, is also of similar style of the group’s videos out of Syria and Iraq.
