Suicide bomber hits interior ministry building in Baghdad

Suicide bomber hits interior ministry building in Baghdad

PanARMENIAN.Net - A suicide bomber hit an interior ministry building in central Baghdad and killed at least 11 people on Saturday, Aug 23, officials said, as an investigation was underway into a deadly attack on a Sunni mosque that has heightened sectarian tension as the country undergoes a fragile political transition, the Associated Press reports.

The suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden car into the gate of the intelligence headquarters in Karrada district in the early afternoon, killing six civilians and five security personnel, a police officer said. He added that 24 other people were wounded.

A medical official confirmed causality figures. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to brief the media, according to the AP.

The attacks came hours after parliament speaker Salim al-Jabouri said that a committee of security officials and lawmakers would announce the findings of an investigation into Friday's attack against a village mosque in Diyala province in two days' time.

It remained unclear whether the attack in the village of Imam Wais was carried out by Shiite militiamen or insurgents from the Islamic State group who have been advancing into mixed Sunni-Shiite areas in Diyala province and have been known to kill fellow Sunni Muslims who refuse to submit to their harsh interpretation of Islamic law.

Since early this year, Iraq has faced an onslaught by the Islamic State extremist group and allied Sunni militants who have taken control of areas in the country's west and north. The crisis has worsened in June, when the group seized Iraq's second-largest city of Mosul and subsequently declared an Islamic state, or caliphate, in territory under its control in both Iraq and neighboring Syria.

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