Islamic State attacks across Iraq Sunday left at least 29 people dead and more than 70 wounded.
The most deadly attack for which IS claimed responsibility was launched against a state-run natural gas plant near Baghdad that killed at least 14 people and wounded 27, Iraqi officials said.
A suicide bomber exploded a car near the front gate of the gas production facility in Taji, about 20 kilometers north of Baghdad, about 6 a.m. local time. Following the explosion, another van carrying at least six more terrorists wearing explosive vests gained access to the facility.
After about an hour of shooting, security forces were able to neutralize the men. But not before they were able to set fire to three of the facility’s gas storage containers, a spokesman for Baghdad Operations Command said.
The IS-affiliated Aamaq news service reported that a group of “caliphate soldiers” was responsible for the attack.
Elsewhere in Baghdad, three separate bomb attacks targeted commercial areas, killing at least eight civilians and wounding 28 others, police said.
Also Sunday in Iraq, seven were killed, including two soldiers, and 18 were wounded in a car bomb explosion in the town of Latifiyah, about 30 kilometers south of the capital. Police said it targeted a shopping area. Four of the wounded were soldiers.
These latest attacks follow others in the past week in Baghdad and elsewhere that have killed more than 140 people. They also come on the heels of Iraqi ground forces achieving a number of key territorial victories against the Islamic State terrorist group.
