An
attack on a Shiite shrine in the north of Iraqi capital, which the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed, has left 40 people
dead and more than 70 others wounded.
In the attack on the
evening of July 7, ISIL militants targeted the Sayyid Mohammed shrine in
Balad, 70 kilometers north of Baghdad, Joint Operations Command
spokesman Yahya Rasool told AFP.
The attack killed 40 people and wounded 74, Iraqi Health Ministry spokesman Ahmed al-Rudaini said.
The shrine was attacked with mortar fire, then by suicide bombers wearing security force uniforms, Rasool said.
Security
forces fired on the bombers, who were not able to enter the shrine, and
two of them blew themselves up, while a third was shot dead, he said.
The attack sparked a fire that caused heavy damage to the market near the shrine, an AFP journalist reported.
ISIL
issued a statement claiming the attack, saying that five jihadists took
part, killing guards at the shrine, then clashing with Iraqi forces for
hours before detonating explosives they were carrying.
The ISIL statement did not mention mortar fire.
“It
is clear the cowardly attack on the shrine aims to spark sectarian
tensions and drag Iraq back to the dark days of sectarian conflict,” Jan
Kubis, the U.N.’s top Iraq envoy, said in a statement.
Hours
after this attack, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi sacked three
Baghdad security chiefs following a devastating bombing in the capital
last week, his office said on July 8.
ISIL said it carried out the July 3 bombing in Baghdad which killed 292 people, one of the deadliest to ever hit Iraq.
A
suicide bomber blew up a minibus packed with explosives in a Baghdad
shopping district teeming with people ahead of the Eid al-Fitr holiday,
sparking widespread anger against the government.
Iraqi interior
minister tendered his resignation after the bombing, but the July 8
statement was the first announcing that officials were fired following
the attack.
Abadi issued “an order to relieve the Baghdad
Operations commander of his position,” as well as remove the officials
responsible for intelligence and security in the capital, his office
said, according to AFP.
The head of the Baghdad Operations Command was Lieutenant General Abdulamir al-Shimmari.
