Death toll hits 100, ISIS claims responsibility for massacre

dimeji akinloye

November 24, 2016 11:12 PM

Most of the victims were Iranian Shi'ite pilgrims who were en route back to Iran from the Iraqi Shi'ite holy city of Kerbala.

Iraq deployed around 25,000 members of the security forces to protect Shiite Muslim pilgrims during the Arbaeen commemorations

A suicide truck bomb killed about 100 people, most of them Iranian

Islamic State, the ultra hard-line Sunni militant group that considers all Shi'ites to be apostates, claimed responsibility the attack in an online statement.

The group also is fighting off a U.S.-backed offensive on its stronghold Mosul, in northern Iraq, in which Iranian-trained Shi'ite militias are taking part.

The pilgrims were en route back to Iran from the Iraqi Shi'ite holy city of Kerbala, where they had commemorated Arbaeen, the 40th day of mourning for the killing of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammad, in the 7th century AD, the medical sources said.

The gas station has a restaurant on its premises that is popular with travelers. Five pilgrim buses were set afire by the blast from the explosives-laden truck, a police official said.

In recent months Islamic State has intensified attacks in areas out of its control in efforts to weaken the offensive launched on Oct. 17 to retake Mosul, the last major Iraqi city under Islamic State control.

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Iran's Foreign Ministry condemned the attack without giving a casualty toll. Tehran will continue to support Iraq's "relentless fight against terrorism," ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency.

U.S. officials condemned the attack.

"The United States remains steadfast in its partnership with the Iraqi people and government and this attack only serves to strengthen our resolve in defeating ISIL," National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.

The U.S. State Department is in close contact with Iraqi authorities, department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement.

dimeji akinloye