Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-26 22:21:12|Editor: xuxin

Video Player Close

BAGHDAD, May 26 (Xinhua) -- At least five people were killed and eight others wounded on Sunday when a truck bomb ripped through a popular market at a village in Iraq's northern province of Nineveh, the Iraqi military said.

The attack took place in the afternoon when a booby-trapped truck was detonated at a crowded marketplace in the village of al-Uwaynat near the town of Rabiaa near the border with Syria, the media office of the Iraqi Joint Operations Command said in a statement.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, but IS militants, in most cases, have been responsible for such attacks targeting security forces and areas where crowds of civilians gather, including markets, cafes and mosques.

The security situation in Iraq was dramatically improved after Iraqi security forces fully defeated the extremist IS militants across the country late in 2017.

IS remnants, however, have since melted in urban areas or resorted to deserts and rugged areas as safe havens, carrying out frequent guerilla attacks against security forces and civilians. </s> Local media reported that the incident took place in Qadisiyah district on Sunday, with both security forces and civilians believed to be among the casualties.

Separately, gunmen raided a checkpoint in Najaf’s al-Meshkhab area, but the number of possible casualties remains unclear, Press TV reported.

Meanwhile, local sources have reported several mortar attacks around Najaf Province.

The Daesh (ISIL or ISIS) terror group has claimed responsibility for the bomb attack. The terrorists have in recent months increased their acts of violence across Iraq in revenge for the blows they have been taking from Iraqi armed forces in the battle for the liberation of Mosul.

On Saturday, the capital Baghdad also witnessed bloodshed. At least 28 people lost their lives in a bomb explosion at a crowded market. The attack was later claimed by Daesh.

In another development on Saturday, an improvised explosive device went off in the district of Yarmuk in western Baghdad, leaving a civilian wounded.

Two more people were also injured after a magnetic bomb exploded on al-Qanat Highway in eastern Baghdad

Meanwhile, Baghdad Operations Command spokesman Brigadier General Saad Maan said that five booby-traps had exploded in northwestern Baghdad, killing one person and hurting six others.

Data from monthly reports issued by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) shows that acts of terrorism killed a total of 12,038 Iraqis and injured 14,411 others in 2016.

Iraqi forces advance on Mosul, kill Takfiris

On Saturday, Iraqi forces made fresh gains against Takfiri militants in their push to liberate the northern city of Mosul, the last Daesh stronghold in the country, killing some 200 terrorists.

The commander of Nineveh Liberation Operation, Lieutenant General Abdul Amir Yarallah, said a unit of the Iraqi army had hoisted the national flag over buildings in the village of Arkub, situated in the north of Hudaba neighborhood.

The Arabic-language al-Forat news agency also reported that members of the Popular Mobilization Units, backed by federal police forces, retook the village of Shukran after engaging terrorists and killing a large number of them.

Meanwhile, Iraq’s War Media Cell said policemen had clashed with Daesh elements in Mosul’s southeast, releasing several trapped locals.

Separately, Iraq’s Defense Ministry reported that two militant mortar firing positions and six vehicles had been destroyed in Arkub. Some 55 militants died on the northern front of the Mosul battle.

On the eastern front, two explosives-laden vehicles were destroyed and 45 militants were killed in clashes with Iraqi army soldiers.

In southern Mosul, federal police forces got rid of seven explosives-packed vehicles and killed 86 Daesh terrorists.

Iraqi army troops and allied fighters launched a long-awaited operation to recapture Mosul on October 17.

Defeating Daesh in the city would be a major blow to the Takfiri outfit that began its campaign of terror in northern and western Iraq more than two years ago.

Earlier this week, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said it would take three months to rid the country of Daesh. </s> Iraq's military says a car bomb has killed five people and wounded eight in a northwestern village near the Syrian border.

A military statement said the car was parked near a market in the village of Oweinat in Nineveh province.

The area was once held by the Islamic State group that controlled large parts of Iraq and Syria.

Despite its defeat in Iraq in 2017, IS sleeper cells have been blamed for attacks across the country that have killed and wounded scores of people over the past two years. </s> The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a series of deadly attacks in Iraq since mid-October including three since New Year's Eve.

The latest on Monday saw at least 32 people killed in a suicide car bombing that targeted a Shiite neighbourhood of the capital Baghdad.

At least 27 people were also killed by twin explosions in a busy market area in central Baghdad on New Year's Eve, while another seven died on Sunday in an attack south of the Shiite shrine city of Najaf.

They were the latest in a spate of attacks since the army launched an offensive in mid-October to recapture Mosul, the country's second city and last remaining IS stronghold in Iraq. One on November 25 saw 70 people, mostly Shiite pilgrims, killed south of Baghdad.

The wave of violence has shocked many, but the attacks are still far from the deadliest since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003:

- July 3, 2016: 323 people are killed when a suicide truck bomber attacks a shopping area in the Baghdad district of Karrada.

- October 25, 2009: 153 people are killed and more than 500 wounded when two car bombs explode in Baghdad.

- August 14, 2007: More than 400 people are slaughtered when four suicide truck bombs target members of the ancient Yazidi religious sect in two Kurdish villages in northern Iraq.

- July 7, 2007: At least 140 people are killed in a suicide truck bombing in Amerli village in northern Iraq.

- April 18, 2007: A wave of car bomb attacks on Shiite districts of Baghdad leaves 190 dead.

- March 27, 2007: An anti-Shiite attack in the northern town of Tal Afar kills 152.

- February 3, 2007: A suicide truck bomb attack in a Baghdad market kills at least 130.

- November 23, 2006: At least 202 die in a string of car bombings in Baghdad's Sadr City.

- September 14, 2005: At least 128 people are killed in a series of suicide bombings in Shiite districts of Baghdad.

- March 2, 2004: Bomb attacks on Shiites in the holy city of Karbala and in Baghdad kill more than 170.
A truck bomb explodes at a popular market in the village of Nineveh, Iraq, killing 5 and injuring 8.