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BEIJING, July 24 (Xinhuanet) -- The explosion in the Turkish town of Suruc near the border with Syria comes just days after the terrorist group murdered 100 Shi'ite Muslims in a horrific suicide bombing north of Baghdad. Meanwhile, officials in Saudi Arabia at the weekend said they’d thwarted multiple attacks on mosques in the oil-rich nation.
A town torn apart.
120 people were killed and 160 wounded in a suicide car bombing at a busy market in an Iraqi town on Friday… one of the deadliest attacks carried out by Islamic State militants since they overran large parts of the country.
As many as 30 women and children are thought to be among the dead.
The blast brought down several buildings in Khan Bani Saad, northeast of Baghdad.
People were crushed to death as they celebrated the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
The extremist Sunni militants, who control large parts of northern and western Iraq claimed responsibility for the attack in the mixed eastern province of Diyala which Iraqi forces said was "liberated" in January.
They were specifically targeting Shi'ite Muslims.
The attack comes despite a major Iraqi offensive seeking to take back key areas of the war-town country. At the weekend U.S. and allied forces conducted 31 airstrikes in Syria and Iraq targeting Islamic State strongholds.
On the ground, security forces and allied paramilitary Shiite militias fought heavy clashes with IS militants in a bid to recapture the militant-seized city of Fallujah, west of Baghdad.
In Syria, the terror group’s been accused of using chemical weapons in an attack last June, though such reports are notoriously difficult to verify.
Meanwhile in Saudi Arabia on Saturday officials said they’d arrested 431 people suspected of belonging to Islamic State cells and thwarted attacks on mosques, security forces and a diplomatic mission.
It’s thought the arrests were made over several months.
Islamic State has called on supporters to carry out attacks in the kingdom and killed 25 people in two suicide bombings at Shi'ite Muslim mosques in the country's east in May… fuelling concerns about a growing threat of militancy in the world's top oil exporter.
Experts say the allied offensive against the Islamic State is having some impact, but its de-centralized and highly mobile style of operation, coupled with an unrivalled online campaign targeting foreign fighters, is making the movement very difficult to destroy.
(Source: CNTV.cn)
