Eight suicide bombers have carried out an attack on a gas plant north of Baghdad killing at least 11 people, including police officers.
Around 21 others were wounded in the early morning raid on the facility 12 miles outside the Iraqi capital, that has been claimed by Islamic State.
Officials said three gas tanks were set alight in the assault, sending huge plumes of black smoke billowing into the sky.
A suicide car bomb went off at the entrance of the site in Taji at around 6am local time allowing another vehicle carrying the militants wearing explosive vests to enter the facility where they clashed with security forces, according to sources.
Reinforcements were called to the scene where a firefight lasted for around an hour.
The terror group has intensified its attacks on civilian targets in the face of losing ground to the Iraqi security forces in recent months.
According to the authorities, IS currently controls only 14% of Iraqi territory, down from the 40% it held in 2014.
"Daesh (IS) is turning to targeting civilian facilities in cities after losing the battle on the front," said Colonel Mohamed al Bidhani.
IS claimed responsibility for a spate of bombings in Baghdad last Wednesday that killed close to 100 people - the bloodiest day in the Iraqi capital this year.
In Yemen, a suicide bomber blew himself up at a police headquarters killing at least 10 recruits and injuring another 15.
The attack, which has also been claimed by IS, is the second deadly blast to hit the city of Mukalla, which had been a base for al Qaeda before the group was pushed out in a military offensive last month.
In a message on its online news agency Amaq, IS said the attacker was a "martrydom-seeker".
No comments:
Post a Comment