RAMADI: A suicide attack targeting a political party headquarters in western Iraq has killed four people and injured seven others, including a candidate in polls set for May, officials said Sunday.
On Saturday evening “two suicide bombers disguised as soldiers entered the Al-Hal Party headquarters,” one of most prominent parties in the Sunni-majority province of Al-Anbar, a local security official told AFP on the condition of anonymity.
One of the attackers “detonated his explosive belt while political leaders held a meeting” at the campaign headquarters in the city of Hit, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) west of Baghdad, General Qassam Al-Mohammadi, head of army operations in the area, told AFP.
“Three members of the security forces were killed and seven people, including candidate Zineb Abdel Hamid Al-Hiti, were wounded,” he said.
A municipal employee on Sunday also succumbed to injuries sustained in the attack, the anonymous official said.
He said the second attacker detonated his belt shortly after the first, but did not cause any casualties.
Medical sources confirmed the death toll of four and said Hiti had been hospitalized with light injuries.
There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack, which took place in the tribal desert province of Al-Anbar, primarily home to Sunni Muslims.
Sunnis are a minority in Iraq, where more than two-thirds of the population is Shiite Muslim.
For three years, the Sunni Islamic State jihadist group ruled over the province, which stretches from the western periphery of the capital to the border with war-torn Syria.
In December, Baghdad declared “victory” against IS after retaking the group’s last urban stronghold in Al-Anbar.
But according to experts, jihadists are still hiding along the porous border with Syria and in parts of the Iraqi desert.
Elections held in Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003 and the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime have all been marred by deadly violence.
But in the runup to the May 12 polls, the country has enjoyed a respite from violence which has significantly decreased in recent months.
Four killed in attack on 'Al-Hal' Iraqi party headquarters in Anbar province
Four killed in attack on 'Al-Hal' Iraqi party headquarters in Anbar province
Hundreds mourn in Syria’s Homs after deadly mosque bombing
- Officials have said the preliminary investigations indicate explosive devices were planted inside the mosque but have not yet publicly identified a suspect
HOMS: Hundreds of mourners gathered Saturday despite rain and cold outside of a mosque in the Syrian city of Homs where a bombing the day before killed eight people and wounded 18.
The crowd gathered next to the Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib Mosque in the Wadi Al-Dhahab neighborhood, where the population is predominantly from the Alawite minority, before driving in convoys to bury the victims.
Officials have said the preliminary investigations indicate explosive devices were planted inside the mosque but have not yet publicly identified a suspect.
A little-known group calling itself Saraya Ansar Al-Sunna claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on its Telegram channel, in which it indicated that the attack intended to target members of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shia Islam whom hard-line Islamists consider to be apostates.
The same group had previously claimed a suicide attack in June in which a gunman opened fire and then detonated an explosive vest inside a Greek Orthodox church in Dweil’a, on the outskirts of Damascus, killing 25 people as worshippers prayed on a Sunday.
A neighbor of the mosque, who asked to be identified only by the honorific Abu Ahmad (“father of Ahmad“) out of security concerns, said he was at home when he heard the sound of a “very very strong explosion.”
He and other neighbors went to the mosque and saw terrified people running out of it, he said. They entered and began trying to help the wounded, amid blood and scattered body parts on the floor.
While the neighborhood is primarily Alawite, he said the mosque had always been open to members of all sects to pray.
“It’s the house of God,” he said. “The mosque’s door is open to everyone. No one ever asked questions. Whoever wants to enter can enter.”
Mourners were unable to enter the mosque to pray Saturday because the crime scene remained cordoned off, so they prayed outside.
Some then marched through the streets chanting “Ya Ali,” in reference to the Prophet Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law whom Shiite Muslims consider to be his rightful successor.
