Suicide bombing kills 115, injures 170 in Iraq

World Today

Civilians inspect the aftermath of a suicide car bombing at a busy market in Khan Bani Saad in the Diyala province, about 20 miles (30 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, July 18, 2015. A suicide car bombing in Iraq’s eastern Diyala province killed at least 115 people gathered at a marketplace to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan on Friday. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)

A suicide car bombing on Friday night in Iraq’s eastern Diyala province killed at least 115 people gathered at a marketplace to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

Iraqi police officials said at least 170 people were also wounded in the attack in the town of Khan Beni Saad. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, according to messages posted on Twitter. The claim could not be independently verified but it was posted by accounts commonly associated with the group. Security has been ramped up in areas across Iraq since the start of Ramadan amid fears that the Sunni militant group would use the occasion to wage an assault on civilians to destabilize the Shiite-led government in Baghdad.

Parts of the predominantly-mixed Diyala province were captured by the Islamic State group in 2014. Iraqi forces and Kurdish fighters have since retaken those areas, but clashes between the militants and security forces continue. In August 2014, at least 64 people were killed in an attack on a Sunni mosque in the volatile province. The attack prompted Sunni lawmakers to pull out of sensitive talks last summer aimed at forming a new government after Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi was named premier-elect.

The Islamic State fighters had been trying to convince two prominent Sunni tribes in the area — the Oal-Waisi and al-Jabour — to join them, but that they have so far refused, provoking what many described as retaliatory attacks.

The Sunni militant group has been behind several similar large-scale attacks on civilians or military checkpoints as it seeks to expand its territory, which includes a third of Iraq and Syria.

Report by Associated Press.