Deadliest attack since it lost Mosul

Gunmen and suicide car bombers on Thursday killed at least 52 people near the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah, in an attack claimed by Islamic State (IS) group.

The attackers struck at midday, opening fire on a restaurant before getting into a car and blowing themselves up at a nearby security checkpoint, officials said.

Security sources said the attackers were disguised as members of the Hashed al-Shaabi, a mainly Shia paramilitary alliance which has fought alongside the Army and police against the IS in northern Iraq. The toll from the attacks was 52 dead and 91 wounded, said Abdel Hussein al-Jabri, deputy health chief for the mainly Shia Province of Dhiqar of which Nasiriyah is the capital. The area targeted is used by Shia pilgrims and visitors from neighbouring Iran headed for the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala further north, although Dhiqar has previously been spared the worst of Iraq’s violence.

The IS claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement carried by Amaq. It said several suicide bombers had staged the assault on a restaurant and a security checkpoint, killing “dozens of Shias”. The toll makes it the deadliest IS attack in Iraq since pro-government forces drove the jihadists out of second city Mosul in July.