20 killed in series of bombings near Baghdad

2016-01-12 5

Bombings killed 20 people and wounded dozens at a cafe in the Iraqi town of Muqdadiyah northeast of Baghdad on Monday, officers said, according to AFP.
A bomb exploded at the cafe and a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-rigged vehicle after people gathered at the scene, a police captain and an army colonel said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but suicide bombings are a tactic frequently used by Sunni terrorists in Iraq, including the Islamic State (ISIS) jihadist group.
The officers said that Shiites set alight several Sunni homes and a mosque following the attack.
A top Iraqi army officer declared that Diyala province, where Muqdadiyah is located, had been "liberated" from ISIS in late January 2015, but that has not brought an end to attacks by the jihadists.