Kurdish security forces inspect the site of a bomb attack in the city of Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdistan region, about 350km north of Baghdad, yesterday.
HILLA: At least 40 people were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a Shia Muslim funeral in a southern Iraqi town yesterday, while militants killed six people in a rare attack in usually peaceful Kurdistan.
The blast brought down the ceiling of the mosque in Mussayab, 60km south of the capital Baghdad. Police said some bodies were still trapped beneath the debris. At least 50 people were wounded.
Those inside had been mourning the death of a man killed a day earlier by militants.
“Until now, we are trying to retrieve bodies from under the debris. Most of the bodies were torn to pieces. Legs and hands were scattered on ground,” said a policeman at the scene.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the bombing, which is the latest in a spate of attacks targeting both Sunni and Shia places of worship, particularly during funerals.
Militants launched a coordinated suicide and car bomb attack on the headquarters of the security services in the capital of the Kurdistan region yesterday, killing six people in the first major assault there since 2007.
Security forces said the attack began early last afternoon when they opened fire on a minivan that tried to enter their compound on Sixty Metre road in the capital Arbil without authorisation. The driver detonated his vehicle at the entrance.
Four suicide bombers armed with guns and grenades then tried to force their way inside but were shot down, the Iraqi Kurdish security forces added in a statement.
An ambulance also exploded at the scene. The statement said it was driven by a militant but another security source said the blast was caused by a car blowing up nearby.
Six militants and six members of the security forces were killed and at least 42 others wounded, the authorities said. Security across the city was tight after the attack.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the explosions, which occurred a day after results of the region’s parliamentary elections were announced.
“This shows that those who resent Kurdistan do not want it to be victorious,” read the security forces’ statement. “These kind of attacks will make us more determined to confront the terrorists,” it added.
The United Nations’ new envoy to Iraq Nickolay Mladenov said he was shocked.
“For many years, the city of Arbil has benefited from peace and security and I urge the regional and national authorities to work together to ensure that calm and tranquillity will continue to prevail.”
REUTERS
