Nearly 40 injured in motorcycle bombing in Iraq’s Babil
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A bombing at a market in Iraq’s province of Babil caused almost 40 casualties on Friday.
The deadly explosion came from the detonation of a bomb-laden motorcycle in a popular marketplace in the town of al-Musayib, located in northern Babil province, about 60 kilometers south of the capital city of Baghdad.
Local media quoted security sources as saying that 39 individuals were wounded in the blast.
A health official said the government had mobilized the province’s hospitals to be able to effectively deal with the large number of incoming wounded. Security forces “cordoned off the scene and transported those injured to a nearby hospital,” Director General of Babil Health Department Haider al-Asadi told Alsumaria.
A video said to have been taken at the scene and posted on social media showed extensive damage to shops and restaurants.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
On Thursday, Iraqi security forces announced that they had killed six Islamic State militants in the province of Diyala.
Read More: Iraqi army kills four suicide bombers, ISIS journalist in Diyala province
“Our forces managed to besiege and killed all of them,” read a statement. “Among them were four militants who were wearing suicide vest and their so-called journalist, who was found in possession of a camera.”
During the clashes, two Iraqi soldiers were killed and one more wounded, a local security source told Kurdistan 24.
In mid-July, a twin explosion claimed by the Islamic State rocked a place of worship located on the outskirts of Baghdad, with Iraqi media reporting that five people had been killed and 17 injured.
Read More: Several killed, injured in twin bombing of Shia neighborhood in Baghdad
That same day, another media outlet quoted security sources saying a third explosion was set off to the north of Baghdad that “killed one person and injured a number” of others.
On May 9, a deadly suicide bombing in the capital’s sprawling neighborhood of Sadr City claimed the lives of at least eight people and wounded another 15.
Although Iraq declared the military defeat of the Islamic State in December 2017, the terrorist group continues to carry out insurgency-style attacks in formerly liberated areas like Mosul, which it once declared its de-facto capital and also places it never controlled like Baghdad.
Editing by John J. Catherine