Islamic State group extremists attacked a Shiite shrine north of Baghdad, killing 30 people, just days after one of the deadliest ever bombings in the country, a security spokesman said Friday.
The overnight attack on the Sayyid Mohammed shrine in
Balad, which involved suicide bombers and gun and mortar fire, also wounded 50
people, the Joint Operations Command spokesman said in a statement.
The
attack followed a devastating bombing
in Baghdad that tore
through a crowded shopping area early on Sunday ahead of the Eid al-Fitr
holiday marking the end of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, killing
292 people.
The
Sayyid Mohammed shrine, located in the Balad area, 70 kilometres (around 45
miles) north of Baghdad, was first targeted with mortar rounds, according to
the statement on the attack, which it said it was carried out by the IS jihadist group.
Suicide bombers then arrived at the shrine and opened
fire, it said.
Two of the bombers blew themselves up in a market next to
the shrine, while the third was killed and his explosive belt defused, it said,
without specifying which forces killed the bomber.
The
attack came just hours after Iraqi Health Minister Adila Hamoud announced that
the death toll from the Sunday bombing had
reached 292.
Hamoud said the bodies of 115 killed in the bombing had
now been handed over to families, while the identities of 177 others have yet
to be determined.
The blast also wounded 200 people, said the minister, who
on Tuesday told AFP that the process of identifying the unknown dead -- which
she put at 150 at the time -- was expected to take 15-45 days.
People have been furious over delays in determining the
fate of their loved ones, and with the number of unidentified bodies now
bigger, it may take even longer.
Lack of emergency exits
The attack has overshadowed what would normally be a
joyful holiday for Iraqi Muslims, instead turning it into a time of mourning
and sadness.
Investigators now believe they know what caused the
attack to claim so many lives.
Police
Major General Talib Khalil Rahi said the suicide bomber detonated a minibus
loaded with plastic explosives and ammonium nitrate.
The initial blast killed a limited number of people, but
flames spread and trapped people inside shopping centres that lacked emergency
exits, Rahi told a news conference in Baghdad.
The raging fires have made it difficult to identify the
dead.
Interior Minister Mohammed Ghabban tendered his
resignation following the bombing, and authorities also announced the execution
of five convicts and the arrest of 40 jihadists in an apparent bid to limit the
fallout from the attack.
An official in Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's office
told AFP on Wednesday that the premier had accepted the minister's resignation,
though there has been no official statement from him on the matter.
Sunday's bombing was claimed by IS, which has its roots
in the insurgency that began after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in the 2003
US-led invasion.
IS overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014,
but Iraqi forces have since regained significant territory from the jihadists.
In response to the battlefield setbacks, the Sunni
extremist group has hit back against civilians, and experts have warned there
may be more bombings as the jihadists continue to lose ground.
Representative
Image
Source: France24
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