Isis attack in Diyala kills 11 wounds 13, including civilians

Security sources say the jihadists struck "unarmed civilians" after an attempted kidnapping. A woman also died. The authorities have sealed off the area and begun rounding up operations. According to a UN report there are still 10,000 militiamen active between Syria and Iraq. 

Baghdad (AsiaNews/Agencies) - The toll, still provisional, of an attack launched by jihadists of the Islamic State (IS, formerly Isis) last night against a village in eastern Iraq is more than a dozen victims. The militias of the "caliphate", which once occupied more than half the territory of Syria and Iraq and had erected their "capital" in Mosul, returned to strike targeting al-Rashad, in the province of Diyala, in an area inhabited by civilians and military. 

According to local security sources, there are currently "11 dead and 13 wounded", some of whom are in a serious condition. The victims include both civilians and military personnel stationed in the area. The authorities have sealed off the area and begun sweeping operations in search of local jihadist cells. 

A note from the military leadership underlines that in the attack, the militiamen kidnapped two people and hit "defenceless civilians", after the villagers refused to pay a ransom. A woman was also among the victims. Previously, another attack using light vehicles and semi-automatic weapons also took place in Iraq, with a final toll of 11 dead and 15 wounded. 

In the area of al-Rashad live mainly members of the Bedouin tribe of Bani Tamim, to which the governor of the province also belongs. At the beginning of September, 13 members of the Iraqi Federal Police were killed in an Isis attack on a checkpoint near Kirkuk in the north.

A report earlier this year by the United Nations stated that the Islamic State "maintains a largely clandestine presence in Iraq and Syria" where it is leading "an insurgency on both fronts" thanks to the presence of at least 10,000 fighters.

The last attack claimed by Isis in Iraq was last July, in the Shiite district of Sadr City, in Baghdad, which caused the death of about thirty people. In October, coinciding with parliamentary elections, the authorities had revealed two cross-border operations with the arrest of the mastermind behind the bloody 2016 attack in the capital, which had claimed more than 320 lives. 

• Iraq
• Islamic State
• violence
• attacks
• victims
• government
• fundamentalism
• jihad