|
BAGHDAD, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- At least 10 people were killed and 17 others wounded on Monday in a suicide car bombing targeting security forces south of theIraqi capital of Baghdad, a police source said.
The attack, on a security checkpoint in the town of Yousifiyah, some 25 km south of Baghdad, came just hours after Iraqi forces launched an offensive to flush out Islamic State (IS) militants from the city of Mosul, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
Most of the killed and wounded were soldiers and policemen, who were checking civilian vehicles passing through the checkpoint, the source said.
The massive blast destroyed parts of the checkpoint building and set fire to several cars, while many other vehicles were badly damaged, the source added.
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, but the IS was blamed for most similar suicide attacks in the past targeting crowded areas such as markets, cafes and mosques across Iraq.
In the early hours of the day, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who is also commander-in-chief of the armed forces, announced the start of a major offensive to retake the country's second largest city from the extremist IS group.
"Today I declare the launch of the operation of liberating Nineveh province. The time of victory has come, and the moment of the great victory is approaching," Abadi said in a brief address aired on Al Iraqiya.
Mosul, some 400 km north of Baghdad, has been under IS control since June 2014, when Iraqi government forces abandoned their weapons and fled, enabling IS militants to take control of parts of Iraq's northern and western regions.
