(AhlulBayt News Agency) - ISIS has claimed a suicide bombing that killed six civilians near Iraq’s holy city of Karbala on Monday at the start of a major Shiite Muslim ritual.
The Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Saad Maan said six suicide bombers tried on Monday to infiltrate the holy Shiite city of Karbala, but security forces managed to kill five of them in the rural area of Ain al-Tamr.
Maan added that the sixth bomber, however, broke into a house where he blew up himself, killing six and wounding six.
The attack took place as hundreds of thousands of Shiites were gathering to mark Arbaeen, which comes at the end of a 40-day mourning period for Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammad.
ISIS said in a statement it had planned to target Shiite Muslims, police and army personnel.
Iraqi army soldiers, backed by pro-government fighters from Popular Mobilization Units and Kurdish Peshmerga forces, are fighting the ISIS terrorists back.
Forces have tightened security for the mourners on their way to and in Karbala.
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