Bomb blast kills two Iraqi children in Anbar province

Anbar (IraqiNews.com) – Two Iraqi children were killed Tuesday in a bomb blast in the western province of Anbar, a security source said as the country still suffers from almost daily bomb attacks by Islamic State militants.

Speaking to Almaalomah news website, the source said that an explosive charge went off in al-Nassaf area, west of Fallujah in Anbar, while a group of children were playing there.

“The explosion left two children dead,” the source said, adding that a security force rushed to the blast site and started to search for any other explosives at the scene.

Violence in the country has surged further with the emergence of Islamic State extremist militants who proclaimed an “Islamic Caliphate” in Iraq and Syria in 2014.

The surge in violence between armed groups and government forces has resulted in over five million internally displaced persons across Iraq and left more than 11 million in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

IS declared a self-styled “caliphate” in a third of Iraq and neighboring Syria in 2014. A government campaign, backed by a U.S.-led international coalition and paramilitary forces, was launched in 2016 to retake IS-held regions, managing to retake all havens, most notably the city of Mosul, the group’s previously proclaimed capital.