Iraqi officials said on Saturday that the toll from a suicide bombing at a football stadium near Baghdad that was claimed by the Islamic State group has climbed to 41, with another 105 people wounded, reported AP. A suicide bomber from the terror group blew himself up in the stadium located in the city of Iskanderiyah, 30 miles south of Baghdad, on Friday.
The Washington Post reported that the bomber struck while trophies were being handed out to the teams after the match. Senior local leaders were among those killed. According to the Post's report, the terror group claimed on its Amaq News Agency that the attack targeted a gathering of Shiite militias known as Hashd al-Shaabi. “Our knight immersed into their crowds until he detonated his belt, turning them into scattered parts,” ISIS claimed.
Iraqi ground forces have made several gains against the Islamic State in the area recently. Army troops and local tribal fighters recaptured the town of Kubaisa in western Anbar province on Friday, while Isis fighters were pushed out of villages in Iraq’s northern Nineveh the day before that. Eventually, Iraqi forces are looking to push for Mosul, the largest city held by the militants.
The stadium bombing came hours after the Pentagon announced the the Islamic State’s second-in-command Haji Imam had been killed in an airstrike in Syria. On Tuesday, the militant group killed more than 30 through multiple bombings in Brussels.
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