Twin suicide bomb blasts at a wedding party in a village near the Iraqi city of Tikrit on Wednesday killed at least 23 people, a local government official said.
The blasts in the village of Hajjaj, reported by local officials and medics as suicide attacks, were not immediately claimed, although Islamic State has carried out similar actions as it comes under pressure in Mosul.
READ MORE: 90-year-old rescued from Mosul says ISIS war worse than Saddam Hussein reign
A police source said two blasts hit the wedding and two more targeted security forces at the scene shortly afterwards. There were ongoing clashes between security forces and militants in the area, he said.
The attack came as Iraqi forces battled Islamic State militants in their stronghold of Mosul on Wednesday.
The U.S.-backed campaign to crush the militants saw Iraqi forces recapture the eastern side of Mosul in January. They launched their assault on the western half last month.
READ MORE: Islamic State dislodged from last major city stronghold in Iraq
The retreat of Islamic State’s self-styled caliphate, which leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared from a mosque in Mosul’s old city in 2014, has been accompanied by bomb attacks in areas outside the group’s control, including Baghdad and cities in neighboring Syria.
In November deadly and apparently diversionary bomb attacks by the group hit Tikrit and Samarra, both north of Baghdad.
Comments