BAGHDAD – An Islamic State suicide bomber killed at least 25 people who had gathered to watch a soccer match in a stadium south of Baghdad on Friday evening, according to local police and a claim issued by the militants.
The attack in the Babil province town of Iskandariyah came hours after U.S. officials said they had killed the Islamic State’s number two commander, an Iraqi, in an airstrike in Syria, though there was no immediate reason to believe the incidents were linked.
According to a Babil police spokesman, Col. Muthanna Harith, preliminary reports suggest 25 people died as the match, a finals fixture between two local teams, got underway. Dozens also were injured, he said, but he had no further details.
In a statement issued by its Amaq news agency, the Islamic State said the attack targeted a gathering of Shiite militias, known as Hashd Shabi. But residents said the victims were ordinary civilians.
The statement said that more than 60 people died, including a local militia commander, and nearly 100 were wounded by the attack. The bomber was named as Saifullah al-Ansari, a fake name, and an accompanying photograph suggested he was in his teens.
“Our knight immersed into their crowds until he detonated his belt, turning them into scattered parts,” the statement said.
The Islamic State has been resorting to suicide attacks with growing frequency in recent weeks as the group’s fighters are slowly losing control of territories they had controlled in some instances since 2014.
More than 50 people died in a suicide truck bombing in the Babil province town of Hilla earlier this month, a week after two suicide bombings targeting Shiite areas of Baghdad killed over 100. Hilla is a mixed Sunni-Shiite province but the attacks there have targeted Shiite communities.
