At least 26 people have been killed in suicide bomb explosions at a wedding party in a village near the Iraqi city of Tikrit, medical and security sources have told Al Jazeera.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Wednesday's attack in Hajjaj village, located 20km north of Tikrit.

Security forces cordoned off the area and imposed a wider curfew for fear of more attackers.

A police source told Reuters that two blasts hit the wedding and two more targeted security forces at the scene shortly afterwards. There were ongoing clashes between security forces and fighters in the area, he said.

Iraqi security forces retook Tikrit from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant - ISIL, also known as ISIS - in April 2015.

In November, ISIL bomb attacks hit Tikrit, north of the capital, Baghdad, in an apparent diversionary assault as Iraqi forces drove back the armed group's fighters in their stronghold of Mosul.</s>Suicide bomb explosions target wedding ceremony in a village near the Iraqi city of Tikrit, officials say.

At least 21 people have been killed in suicide bomb explosions at a wedding party in a village near the Iraqi city of Tikrit, a local government official has told Al Jazeera.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Wednesday's attack in Hajjaj village, located 20km north of Tikrit.

A government official also told Reuters news agency that at least 23 people were killed in two blasts targeting the wedding reception.

Security forces cordoned off the area and imposed a wider curfew for fear of more attackers.

Iraqi security forces retook Tikrit from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant - ISIL, also known as ISIS - in April 2015.

In November, ISIL bomb attacks hit Tikrit, north of the capital, Baghdad, in an apparent diversionary assault as Iraqi forces drove back the armed group's fighters in their stronghold of Mosul.</s>At least 26 people were killed Wednesday night, and up to 67 were wounded by suicide bombers who blew themselves up at a wedding party in a village near the Iraqi city of Tikrit, local officials and medics said Thursday.

No terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack in Hajjaj village, which is some 20 kilometers north of Tikrit, the capital of Saladin province. However, the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, has carried out similar attacks in the region before.

A police source told Reuters two blasts hit the wedding and shortly afterward, two more targeted security forces. There were also ongoing clashes between security forces and militants in the area.

“The first blew himself up at 8:30 p.m. amid men who were dancing during the celebration,” following the second attack minutes later, a police lieutenant colonel said. The bombers detonated explosive belts, the officer said.</s>More than 20 people were killed in twin bomb blasts that hit a wedding party on Wednesday (8 February) in a village near Iraq's Tikrit. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Local officials and medics told Reuters that the explosions in the village of Hajjaj, which resembled Isis attacks, were carried out by suicide bombers.

The news agency quoted a police source as saying that the first two blasts were followed by two more targeting security forces at the wedding party venue. Clashes between some insurgents and the security forces continued for a while after the blasts, the person added.

Al Jazeera reported that at least 26 people were killed in the blast, following which the area was cordoned off. A wider curfew was also imposed in the area over fears of the presence of more militants. Tikrit, located 20km away from Hajjaj, was liberated of Isis rule in April 2015, but the Islamist group has continued to target the city in retaliatory attacks.

Meanwhile, Iraqi forces fighting to liberate western Mosul are facing similar suicide bombing attacks in the area. Major General Ali Kadhem al-Lami of the Federal Police's Fifth Division told Reuters that on Tuesday night, militants used car bombs in their counter-attack around the Nineveh governorate building to prevent their forces from taking control. "Today we're clearing the area which was liberated," he said.

Elsewhere, Iraq's Rapid Response force took back control of provincial government headquarters, the central bank branch and a museum in the area. Iraqi troops have already recaptured Mosul airport, which is believed to be a strategic position in the fight for west Mosul.</s>A twin suicide bombing struck a village wedding north of Baghdad as the wedding party gathered in the evening hours, killing at least 26 people and wounding dozens, a government spokesman said Thursday.

 

 The attack, which took place late Wednesday, began when one suicide bomber wearing an explosives-laden belt walked into the wedding party assembled in an open area in Hajaj, near the city of Tikrit, about 130 kilometers (80 miles) from Baghdad.

 

 The bomber detonated his explosives, only to be followed by the second attacker who blew himself up when people gathered to help the victims of the first explosion, provincial spokesman Ali al-Hamdani told The Associated Press. He said 26 people were killed, most of them children, and up to 67 were wounded. 

 

 There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but suspicion is likely to fall on the Islamic State group, which has staged similar attacks in the past. The wedding party was for a family that had been displaced from Iraq’s western Anbar province and that is affiliated with a major anti-IS tribe there.

 

 IS had captured Tikrit during its blitz across Iraq in the summer of 2014 when the Sunni militant group seized nearly a third of the country’s territory. Iraqi forces drove the militants from the city in April 2015, but IS has since managed to launch deadly attacks in and around Tikrit. 

 

 IS has also used large-scale attacks in an effort to distract from its losses as Iraqi forces battle to retake all of Mosul, the country’s second-largest city, from the group. 

 

 Iraqi forces in Mosul have over the past week fought their way into the heart of the western part of the city, separated by the Tigris River from the eastern sector, capturing a government complex and the city’s antiquities museum where IS had destroyed priceless relics.

 

 Mosul also fell to IS in the summer of 2014, along with Tikrit and large swaths of northern and western Iraq, but now remains the militant group’s last significant urban area in the country.</s>A pair of suicide bombings tore through a wedding today in the Iraqi village of Hajaj, on the outskirts of Tikrit. The two bombers wearing suicide belts killed at least 30 people, and wounded 26 others. There has been no claim of responsibility.

Iraqi security forces responded by imposing a wider curfew around the region, saying they fear additional attacks. Though two bombers were reported in the incident, some media outlets suggested there were four attackers on the scene, raising fear some remain at large.

Immediate speculation was that ISIS was behind that attack, though ISIS is usually pretty quick to claim credit for such incidents, and the conspicuous lack of any claims has everyone uncertain exactly what is going on.

ISIS controlled Tikrit for some time, and lost most of the city to Iraqi troops in April of 2015. After the loss of the city, ISIS retained forces in the surrounding area for months, but now isn’t believed to control any significant territory anymore.
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• US Mulls 'Reserve' Deployment to Kuwait for ISIS Fight - March 8th, 2017</s>ERBIL, Iraq, March 8 (Reuters) - Two bomb blasts, from an apparent suicide attack, hit a wedding party in a village near the Iraqi city of Tikrit on Wednesday, killing or wounding at least 15 people, a medical source and local notables said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack in Hajjaj, 20 km (14 miles) north of Tikrit.

The death toll was not immediately confirmed as the bodies had not yet arrived at hospital, the medical source said.

In November Islamic State bomb attacks hit Tikrit and Samarra, both north of Baghdad, as an apparent diversionary attacks as Iraqi forces drive back the jihadists in their stronghold of Mosul. (Writing by John Davison; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)</s>ERBIL: Twin suicide bomb blasts at a wedding party in a village near the Iraqi city of Tikrit on Wednesday killed at least 23 people, a local government official said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack in Hajjaj village.</s>Iraq's Defense Ministry said a twin suicide bombing targeting a village wedding north of Baghdad has killed at least 20 people Wednesday, March 8. The ministry said two suicide bombers walked into the wedding party in Al-Hajaj village, near the city of Tikrit, on Wednesday evening. It said up to 13 people were wounded.

Start the conversation, or Read more at Sun-Star.</s>SAMARRA: Two suicide bombers attacked a celebration being held the night before a wedding north of Baghdad, killing 26 people, a police officer and a doctor said on Thursday.

The bombings in the Al-Hajaj area, north of the city of Tikrit, also wounded 25 people, the sources said.

“The first blew himself up at 8:30 pm (1730 GMT on Wednesday) amid men who were dancing during the celebration,” while the second attacked a few minutes later, a police lieutenant colonel said.

The bombers detonated explosive belts, the officer said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but the Islamic State jihadist group carries out frequent suicide bombings targeting both civilians and members of the security forces in Iraq.
At least 21 people are killed after two suicide bombers attack a wedding party near Tikrit.