Alwaght-ISIS Takfiri terrorist group has claimed responsibility for a deadly car bomb attack in the Iraqi capital Baghdad which left over 100 pilgrims dead including dozens of Iranians.
The blast near the city of Hilla was the deadliest attack on civilians in Iraq since Baghdad launched an offensive to drive the jihadi group out of the northern city of Mosul last month.
According to local media reports, a truck loaded with explosives went off on Thursday at a gas station in the Shomali village in the suburbs of the city of al-Hilla, located 120 kilometers (75 miles) southeast of the capital Baghdad and around 80 kilometers (50 miles) from Karbala. According to Iranian media reports, nearly 40 of the dead were Iranian pilgrims.
The incident occurred at a time when buses packed with Shiite Muslim pilgrims were parked at the gas station. The people were returning from Arbaeen mourning ceremony in the holy city of Karbala.
Iraqi security sources say at least seven buses with pilgrims were inside the petrol station at the time. ISIS Takfiri terrorists claimed the carnage on its official news agency Amaq in a brief statement that said the attack was a suicide truck bomb.
Iran Slams Attack
Meanwhile Iran has strongly condemned the fatal terrorist blast, expressing sympathy with the Iraqi government and nation as well as all the families of the victims.
Touching on reports that Iranian citizens were among the victims, Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said, “The Foreign Ministry and the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Embassy in Baghdad are investigating the issue with seriousness” and will take necessary measures in that regard. The Iranian official also stressed that such pre-planned and savage assaults emanate from the desperation of the terrorists, who are taking successive blows on the battlefield.
“These brutal and inhumane acts will not affect the Iraqi government and nation’s determination and the Islamic Republic of Iran’s support for the oppressed Iraqi people in the unrelenting fight against terrorism,” Qassemi said.
Arbaeen is the world’s biggest religious event, with over 20 million Muslim pilgrims visiting Karbala, where Imam Hussein AS, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad SAW, was laid to rest. It comes 40 days after the religious holiday of Ashura, in which Muslims mourn the martyrdom of Imam Hussein AS in Karbala in an unequal battle, in order to keep alive Islam in its pure essence as well as all humanitarian values.
