2017 Nasiriyah attacks | |
---|---|
Part of the War in Iraq | |
Location | Nasiriyah, Iraq |
Date | 14 September 2017 |
Target | Iraqi Shias, Iranian pilgrims |
Attack type | Shooting, Car bombing, suicide bombings |
Weapons | Explosive belts, Automatic weapons, Grenades |
Deaths | 84 (+4 attackers) |
Injured | 93 |
Perpetrator | Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant |
On 14 September 2017, several members of ISIL staged multiple attacks on the outskirts of Nasiriyah in the southern Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq, killing at least 84 people and injuring 93 others. [1] [2] [3] [4]
The attacks came as the Islamic State group faced a series of crushing defeats both in Iraq and neighbouring Syria, including the loss of Mosul after a nine-month battle in early July, followed by a successful Iraqi government offensive against the nearby town of Tal Afar in late August. [4] U.S. officials said the terrorist organization had been severely degraded after losing almost 90 percent of the territory it captured during the 2014 blitz across Iraq, including populated places that held factories for creating car bombs and improvised explosive devices. This meant that members would increasingly rely on a combination of suicide bombers, automatic weapons and other methods as their primary means of targeting civilian and government infrastructure, as evidenced by a series of attacks in Tikrit, as well as a bombing at an ice cream parlor in Baghdad. [2]
Analysts and journalists alike warned that despite the recent setbacks, the group remained capable of launching attacks across Iraq, especially at soft targets such as restaurants and entertainment venues. [3]
In the first attack, which took place around lunchtime, several gunmen and at least one suicide bomber wearing military uniforms arrived in three cars and entered the Fadak restaurant on Freeway 1 to Baghdad, a popular stop for pilgrims travelling north to Najaf and Karbala. [3] The assailants then began shooting with automatic weapons and throwing grenades, killing or injuring at least 50 people. [2] [4] Shortly afterwards, two suicide bombers, including one driving an explosives-rigged car, blew themselves up at a nearby police checkpoint, causing further casualties.[ citation needed ] The twin attacks killed 84 people and injured 93 others, many of them seriously. [1] [2]
According to provincial governor Yahya al-Nassiri, the majority of casualties were expected to be Iranian and Iraqi Shia pilgrims, who were inside the restaurant at the time of the first attack.[ citation needed ]
The pro-Islamic State Amaq News Agency claimed the group was responsible for the twin attacks. At least one report said the attackers were disguised as members of the Popular Mobilization Forces—a mainly Shia group that has fought alongside Iraqi forces against IS. [3]
The twin attacks represented one of the highest single-day tolls of any similar incident in southern Iraq since the U.S. invasion in 2003, and were the deadliest since the government recapture of Mosul in July 2017. [1] The Islamic State group had previously targeted Iraqi and Iranian pilgrims during the 2016 Arba'een Pilgrimage, killing more than 120 people in multiple truck bombings in the central town of Hillah. [5]
Events in the year 2005 in Iraq.
This article details major terrorist incidents in Iraq in 2008. In 2008, there were 257 suicide bombings in Iraq. On February 1, a pair of bombs detonated at a market in Baghdad, killing 99 people and injuring 200. Two other particularly deadly attacks occurred on March 6, and June 17.
This article details major terrorist incidents in Iraq in 2009. In 2009, there were 257 suicide bombings in Iraq. On April 23, a suicide bombing to a restaurant in Miqdadiyah killed 57 people, while a separate bombing in southeastern Baghdad killed 28. The next day, on April 24, a Shi'a shrine was targeted, in a bombing that killed 60. October and December saw two attacks kill over 100 people, with bombings on October 25 and December 8.
This is a list of terrorist incidents in Iraq during 2010. Major attacks include a 1 February attack killing 54 in Baghdad, and a 10 May attack killed 45 at a fabrics factory in Hillah.
The 5 January 2012 Iraq bombings were a series of attacks that hit the capital Baghdad and the southern city of Nasiriyah and appeared to target Shia Muslims. A suicide bomber attacked a security checkpoint as huge crowds of pilgrims were making the journey from Nasiriyah to Kerbala for a religious holiday. At least 44 people were killed and 81 more injured in the first significant attack in the city since a blast targeted the Italian military headquarters in November 2003.
The 14 January 2012 Basra bombing was a paramilitary attack in the port city of Basra, Iraq. A bomb, seemingly targeting Shia Muslims marking the festival of Arbain, killed at least 53 people and left more than 130 injured.
The Iraqi insurgency was an insurgency that began in late 2011 after the end of the Iraq War and the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, resulting in violent conflict with the central government, as well as low-level sectarian violence among Iraq's religious groups.
From 15 to 21 May 2013, a series of deadly bombings and shootings struck the central and northern parts of Iraq, with a few incidents occurring in towns in the south and far west as well. The attacks killed at least 449 people and left 732 others injured in one of the deadliest outbreaks of violence in years.
During the first two weeks of July 2013, a series of coordinated bombings and shootings struck across several cities in Iraq, killing at least 389 people and injuring more than 800 others.
The following lists events that happened during 2014 in Iraq.
The following lists events the happened in 2013 in Iraq.
Shia Muslims have been persecuted by the Islamic State, an Islamic extremist group, since 2014. Persecutions have taken place in Iraq, Syria, and other parts of the world.
This article lists terrorist incidents in Iraq during 2016:
On 3 July 2016, ISIL militants carried out coordinated bomb attacks in Baghdad that killed 340 civilians and injured hundreds more. A few minutes after midnight local time, a suicide truck-bomb targeted the mainly Shia district of Karrada, busy with late night shoppers for Ramadan. A second roadside bomb was detonated in the suburb of Sha'ab, killing at least five.
On 7 July 2016, at least 56 people were killed and 75 injured after a group of attackers stormed the Mausoleum of Sayid Mohammed bin Ali al-Hadi, a Shia holy site in Balad, Iraq. The attackers included suicide car bombers, suicide bombers on foot, and several gunmen. They attacked Shia pilgrims celebrating Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. There were three suicide bombers, and one of them was killed by security personnel. There were other attackers too. ISIL also launched several mortars into the area.
On 15 October 2016, four attacks in and around Baghdad, Iraq, resulted in the deaths of at least 60 victims and at least seven attackers, while injuring at least 80 more people. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) are believed to be behind the suicide bombing and two mass shootings.
A suicide bombing occurred in Iraq on 24 November 2016 when a truck bomb exploded at a petrol station in Hillah, some 100 kilometers from southern Baghdad, killing at least 125 people and injuring many others.
This is a timeline of events during the War in Iraq of 2013 to 2017 in its final year.