Bomb blast kills four students, injures seven in Nineveh

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A roadside bomb exploded on Thursday in a town in Nineveh Province, taking the lives of at least four students and wounding more as they were making their way to school, security sources said.

The blast came a day after Iraqi army chief of staff, Osman al-Ghanmi, visited Nineveh following warnings by Iraqi leaders that the security condition there was deteriorating. Speaking with reporters, he later claimed the situation in the province was stable.

Sources told Kurdistan 24 that a roadside bomb exploded Thursday morning when a pick-up truck carrying students to school in the village of Zulahfa, near al-Shoura town, killing four of them and injuring seven others.

“The health service in his town is very weak,” said Khaled al-Jar, mayor of Shoura, in a statement.

The villagers also complained of Shoura’s weak security and called for police reinforcements.

Shoura, 45 km south of the city of Mosul, was the scene of bloody battles between Iraqi forces and Islamic State (IS) militants during efforts to liberate Nineveh.

A security source said residents often complained that some of the remote agricultural areas of the village were still “infested” with IS “sleeper cells.”

Students from schools in Shoura later went on strike and called on security forces to crack down on IS militants terrorizing the area.

Reports indicate IS activity continue to grow, with regular insurgency-style attacks, ambushes, bombings, and kidnappings taking place in liberated and disputed areas despite Baghdad declaring final victory against the extremist group over a year ago.

Editing by Nadia Riva