Islamic State claims responsibility for Iraq wedding attack

Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility on Monday (August 29) for a suicide bombing that killed at least 15 people and wounded 16 others at wedding party near Iraq’s southern Shi’ite city of Kerbala.

A police statement said five assailants including a suicide bomber attacked the celebration on Sunday (August 28) in Ain al-Tamr, west of Kerbala.

The group opened fire with machine guns and threw hand grenades at the party, the statement said, and security forces killed all the attackers.

The bombing is the first in the region of Kerbala since Iraqi forces dislodged IS militants from their stronghold in Falluja, 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of the holy city.

The ultra-hardline Sunni group has been retreating since last year in the face of Iraqi government forces backed by a U.S.-led coalition and Iranian-supported Shi’ite militias.

But it remains in control over parts of northern and western Iraq, and continues to claim bombings all over the country, targeting mainly Shi’ite districts and cities.

A statement on the Amaq news agency that supports Islamic State said the attack was carried out by four of its suicide fighters against a “gathering of Shi’ites.”

Initial reports in local media late on Sunday, citing security sources, blamed the killings on a dispute between two tribes at the wedding party in Ain al-Tamr.