Iraq Suicide Bombing Northeast of Baghdad Kills at Least 86 People:
BAGHDAD—A suicide bomber killed at least 86 people and wounded more than a hundred in an attack Friday evening on a crowded town center northeast of Baghdad, local security officials and hospital employees said.
The bomber detonated a small tanker truck laden with heavy explosives in a market in the center of Khan Bani Saad, a mostly Shiite town in Diyala province about 20 miles northeast of Iraq’s capital, said Muthana al-Tamimi, the governor of the province.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the bombing in a message circulated by Twitter users known to be associated with the extremist insurgent group, calling it a revenge operation for “massacres of Sunnis” in the northern Iraqi town of Hawija.
It was unclear to which “massacre” Islamic State was referring, but the city of Hawija has been the scene of fighting against Iraqi security forces and the target of U.S. airstrikes since it was occupied by Islamic State in June 2014.
Friday was the eve of the start of the Shiite celebration of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, a dayslong festival that follows the holy month of Ramadan. At the time of the attack, Khan Bani Saad’s central business district was crowded with shoppers buying gifts, clothing and food in preparation for Saturday’s celebrations.
Iraq’s Sunni minority began their Eid celebration on Friday.
Islamic State said the bomber, whom they named as Abu Ruqaya al-Ansari, detonated about three tons of explosives “in a gathering of refusers’ militias,” the group said, using a derogatory term for Iraq’s Shiite majority—a group Islamic State considers heretical and deserving of death.
“We ask God to accept our brother in heaven,” the group said in its message.
A video that circulated on social media that purported to show the aftermath of the bombing showed a huge cloud of black smoke rising from a crowded city square that was littered with corpses and demolished cars.
The bombing appeared to have leveled several buildings in the area. The contents of the video couldn’t be independently confirmed.
At least 116 people were wounded in Friday’s attack, said Ali Tamimi, the manager of the local health directorate in Diyala Province.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/iraq-suicide-bombing-kills-at-least-86-people-1437169364Another glaring example that the Muslamic terrorists do not spare other muslamics even in the season of Ramagyan obviously due to extreme internal hatred.