More than 80 dead after militants use car bombs and suicide vests to target checkpoint and restaurants near Nasiriyah

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

More than 80 people are now confirmed dead in an attack on a restaurant frequented by Shia Muslim pilgrims in southern Iraq that was claimed by Islamic State.

Iraqi officials said 84 people had been killed and 93 people injured in the attack in Nasiriyah, in Iraq’s southern Thi Qar province on Thursday evening. Seven Iranians were among the dead, said the provincial governor, Yahya al-Nassiri.

Nassiri added that the province’s director of intelligence had been removed. The interior ministry has called for him to be investigated.

The attack began as a shooting at a checkpoint and restaurant along the main road that connects the province to Baghdad, followed by two suicide bombers, one driving a car laden with explosives.

The spiritual leader of Iraq’s Shia majority called on Iraq’s central government and local leaders “to undertake responsibly and professionally the protection of citizens from terrorists”.

Isis fighters have repeatedly turned to large-scale insurgent attacks following territorial losses. In July Iraqi forces declared victory against Isis in Iraq’s second largest city, Mosul, a military win that broke the back of the extremists’ self-proclaimed caliphate.

The group’s activity is usually concentrated in western and northern Iraq. Bomb attacks in the south, where the bulk of the country’s oil is produced and security forces hold a tighter grip, are relatively rare.

Security sources said forces were on alert in most of the southern provinces, including the oil city of Basra, in case of similar attacks.

