2023-12-01 08:40:03
BAGHDAD (AP) — Eleven people were killed in an attack using explosives and weapons by an armed group in eastern Iraq, security officials said Friday.
The incidents occurred on Thursday night in the Muqdadiyah area of Diyala province. After a roadside bomb exploded, gunmen shot at rescuers and bystanders at the scene, according to two security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the press.
The victims were all civilians, they added.
The attackers fled and no group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
Diyala province has seen periodic attacks by Islamic State extremist group cells and sporadic violence due to sectarian tensions between Sunnis and Shiites, as well as fighting between rival militias and their tribal and political allies for control of lucrative criminal networks. Diyala, which shares a border with Iran and the autonomous Iraqi Kurdish region, is a smuggling zone.
Regional governor Muthanna al-Tamimi said in a statement that the perpetrators of the terrorist attack will be “hunted down.”
Nechirvan Barzani, president of the Kurdish region, indicated that the attack “demonstrates the fact that terrorism remains a real threat and challenge, and that we must confront it with all our strength and capacity.”
Barzani called for greater collaboration between the Iraqi army, the Kurdish peshmerga and other security forces, as well as with the US-led international coalition to fight IS.
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