Car-bomb attack in Iraq’s Diyala kills 5, injures 12

By Hussein al-Amir

DIYALA, Iraq (AA) - Five people were killed and another 12 injured Thursday when Iraq’s eastern Diyala province was shaken by multiple car bombs, according to a local police source.

Three suicide bombers drove their explosive-laden vehicles into a security barricade near Diyala’s northern Al-Khalis district, Diyala police officer Habib al-Shamarri told Anadolu Agency.

“Most of those killed were security personnel,” al-Shamarri said.

Security forces, he added, had killed one of the attackers before he managed to reach the barricade, thus preventing additional casualties.

Although no group has claimed responsibility for the deadly bombing, the Iraqi authorities typically blame such attacks on the Daesh terrorist group.

War-torn Iraq has suffered from a devastating security vacuum since June 2014, when Daesh overran vast swathes of territory in the country’s northern and western regions.

Last October, the Iraqi army, backed by a U.S.-led air coalition and local allies on the ground, launched a wide-ranging offensive aimed at driving Daesh from Mosul, once considered Iraq’s second largest city in terms of population.