Gunmen and suicide bombers killed at least 84 people in southern Iraq in the deadliest attack by the Islamic State group since it lost second city Mosul, according to a new toll released on Friday.
Many of the dead in Thursday’ s attack near the city of Nasiriyah were Shiite Muslim pilgrims , some of them Iranian , officials said.
“ The death toll has risen to 84 after the discovery of 10 more bodies at the scene of the attack , ” said Jassem al -Khalidi , health director for Dhiqar province , which has largely been spared the violence that has plagued northern and central Iraq.
“ Another 93 people were wounded , many of them seriously, ” Khalidi told AFP.
The assailants struck at midday , opening fire on a restaurant before getting into a car and blowing themselves up at a nearby security checkpoint , officials said.
They left a trail of destruction , with charred bodies scattered on the ground near the burnt - out wrecks of cars , buses and trucks , an AFP correspondent reported .
The attack was quickly claimed by IS , which appears to be switching to insurgent attacks after suffering a string of setbacks on the battlefield.
UN envoy Jan Kubis condemned the “ cowardly twin attacks… which resulted in numerous civilian casualties , including many pilgrims .”
Shiites have been the target of repeated attack by the Sunni extremists of IS who regard them as heretics .
The area targeted by Thursday’ s attack lies on a highway used by Shiite pilgrims from Iran and southern Iraq to travel to the shrine cities of Najaf and Karbala further north .
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