Paramilitary personnel killed in bomb blast, southwestern Kirkuk
A bomb explosion. File photo.
“A bomb from Islamic State’s war remnants exploded as a personnel of al-Hashd al-Shaabi [Popular Mobilization Forces] in Hawija was removing bombs from a village in al-Rashad town, leaving him immediately killed,” the source told AlSumaria News on Monday.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source said, “police cordoned off the blast spot, while the victim was transferred to forensic medicine department.”
Violence in the country has surged further with the emergence of Islamic State Sunni extremist militants who proclaimed an “Islamic Caliphate” in Iraq and Syria in 2014.
114 Iraqi civilians were killed, while 244 others were wounded as result of terrorism, violence and armed conflicts, according to a monthly release by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), issued on Wednesday.
Baghdad was the worst affected Governorate, coming in the first place with 177 civilian casualties (38 killed, 139 injured). Anbar province followed with 36 killed and 55 injured, and then Kirkuk with 18 killed and 33 injured.
The Iraqi capital has seen almost daily bombings and armed attacks against security members, paramilitary troops and civilians since the Iraqi government launched a wide-scale campaign to retake Islamic State-occupied areas in 2016.