BASRA, Iraq — At least four civilians
were killed and four more wounded on Tuesday in a motorcycle bombing near a
hospital in southern
Iraq's Basra city, security forces said.
اضافة اعلان
Referring to "the explosion of a
motorcycle", they said in a statement that "four citizens were killed
and four others injured while two vehicles near the motorcycle caught fire.”
There was no immediate claim of
responsibility for the explosion.
The blast hit at a crossroads in central
Basra, near a hospital and a popular market, an AFP photographer reported.
He saw a car charred and left largely a
shell, its doors gone. Shrapnel pierced a minibus whose windows were smeared
with blood.
Iraq has been torn by years of war and
insurgency since a US-led invasion toppled dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003.
In recent years, the city of
Basra has
mostly been spared such attacks.
But since late November deadly attacks
claimed by Daesh have targeted Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq.
Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhemi called for
a rapid investigation to identify who carried out the "cowardly terrorist
attack" in Basra.
He added on Twitter that security forces
"will not permit the security of the people to be threatened."
Daesh established a self-proclaimed
"caliphate" across Syria and Iraq from 2014 but lost its territories
to offensives in both countries.
Iraq proclaimed its victory against the Islamist
extremists on December 9, 2017.
Today, Daesh maintains a largely clandestine
presence in Iraq and Syria and conducts a sustained insurgency on both sides of
the border, according to a UN report published early this year.
Across the two countries, Daesh is believed
to retain about 10,000 active fighters, according to the report.
The last major attack claimed by Daesh in
Iraq targeted a market in Baghdad's Shiite neighborhood of
Sadr City in July
and killed about 30 people.
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