ISIS Claims Suicide Attack Killing More Than 80 In Iraq

BAGHDAD, Nov 24 (Reuters) - A suicide truck bomb killed more than 80 people, most of them Iranian Shiite pilgrims, at a petrol station in the city of Hilla 100 km (62 miles) south of Baghdadon Thursday, police and medical sources said.Islamic State (IS), the ultra hardline Sunni militant group that considers all Shiites to be apostates, claimed responsibility for the attack in an online statement.The pilgrims were en route back to Iran from the Iraqi Shiite holy city of Kerbala, where they had commemorated Arbaeen, the 40th day of mourning for the killing of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammad, in the 7th century AD, the medical sources said.The gas station has a restaurant in its premises that is popular with travelers. Five pilgrim buses were torched by the force of the blast from the explosives-laden truck, a police official said.Islamic State has intensified attacks over the past month in areas out of its control in efforts to weaken a U.S.-backed military offensive launched on Oct. 17 to retake Mosul, the last major city under IS control in Iraq.(Reporting by Saif Hameed and Mohammed el-Sherif; writing by Maher Chmaytelli; editing by Mark Heinrich) -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
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