IS Car Bomb Kills 73, Including 40 Iranians, in Iraq

HILLA, Iraq (AP) —
Civilians search for survivors in the rubble at the scene of a car bomb attack near the city of Hilla about 95 kilometers (60 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. A car bomb tore through a gas station on Thursday, killing and wounding scores of people, including 20 Iranians Shiite pilgrims, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
Civilians search for survivors in the rubble at the scene of a car bomb attack near the city of Hilla, about 60 miles south of Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

A car bomb tore through a gas station south of Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 73 people, including 40 Iranians, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group.

Police and hospital officials confirmed the toll and said dozens more were wounded in the attack, which almost completely destroyed the gas station and several nearby stores, and set several cars on fire. The station is located on a major highway.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Hassan Qashqavi was quoted by the semi-official Tasnim news agency as saying that 80 people were killed, including 40 Iranians. Conflicting reports of death tolls are common in the aftermath of large attacks.

The Islamic State terror group claimed the attack in a brief statement carried by its Aamaq news agency, saying it was a suicide truck bomb.

The Iraqi officials said the target of the attack appears to have been a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims heading home after taking part in a major Shiite event in the Karbala. The blast left the bus and some dozen cars charred.  The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Thursday’s attack came a day after several small-scale bombings in and around Baghdad killed 31 people and wounded more than a 100, a particularly bloody day even by the standards of the Iraqi capital, which has for more than a decade endured near-daily violence blamed on IS or its forerunner, al-Qaida in Iraq.

In northern Iraq, meanwhile, troops drove IS terrorists from three more neighborhoods in Mosul, the country’s second largest city, where a U.S.-backed offensive has been under way for more than six weeks.

Brig. Gen. Haider Fadhil of the special forces told The Associated Press that his men have retaken the neighborhoods of Amn, Qahira and Green Apartments, and were expanding their foothold in the densely populated district of Zohour.

The neighborhoods are all east of the Tigris River, where most of the fighting has taken place. A U.S.-led coalition is carrying out airstrikes to support the troops.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi meanwhile flew to an airstrip outside the town of Tal Afar, to the west of Mosul, on a previously unannounced visit on Thursday, according to footage aired by the state-owned Iraqiya network. The airstrip was seized from IS by state-sanctioned Shiite militiamen earlier this week.

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