At least 35 dead in Iraq suicide bomb attack

  • 18/07/2015
(Reuters)
(Reuters)

A car bomb blast has ripped through the centre of Khan Bani Saad, a town north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, killing at least 35 people, local officials and medical sources say.

"We have 35 martyrs and more than 70 wounded," Mohammed Jawad al-Hamadani, a member of the Diyala province in which Khan Bani Saad is located, said after Friday's blast.

The attack occurred in a market area of Khan Bani Saad, a predominantly Shi'ite town around 20km north of the Iraqi capital, on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

"The explosion was big, it caused a lot of damage," Raad Fares al-Mas, a member of parliament, said from nearby Baquba, the capital of Diyala.

Sunni Muslims began marking Eid al-Fitr on Friday but Iraq's majority Shi'ite community will start their celebrations on Saturday (local time).

Markets are usually packed in the days before the holiday as people preparing for large family gatherings shop for food and clothes.

AFP