SEVERAL KILLED AS BLAST ROCKS IRAQI CITY BASRA

Tue 07 December 2021:

According to the Iraqi military, at least four people were killed and four more were injured in an explosion that rocked the center of Iraq’s southern city of Basra.

The military claimed in a statement on Tuesday that the incident, which sent a column of black smoke into the sky, was caused by a motorcycle fitted with explosives.

Basra’s governor, Asaad al-Idani, told reporters that the explosion was a motorcycle bomb. Forensics teams are at the scene of the blast, and further details will be released once investigations are completed.

Basra explosion: Several killed as blast rocks Iraqi city#Iraq #basrah #Basra pic.twitter.com/haqaCP2oRT

— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) December 7, 2021

Basma Salma, a former member of the city’s governorate council, told Rudaw on Tuesday that “the explosion struck Basra city centre, close to the al-Jumhuri General Hospital.”

“Basra is being renovated. Security in Basra is 90 percent calm. The authorities will investigate and reveal who is behind the explosion,” she added.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the bomb, which occurred on an intersection in central Basra close to the hospital and a popular market.

According to police and medical authorities, 20 other individuals were injured in the incident, according to the news agency Reuters.

Bomb assaults in southern Iraq, where the majority of the country’s oil is produced, are uncommon, especially following the defeat of the ISIL (ISIS) armed group in 2017.

Following the October 10 parliament elections, which saw populist leader Muqtada al-Sadr emerge as the biggest winner, there has been an uptick in political instability in Iraq.

Shia armed factions loyal to Iran, who lost around two-thirds of their parliamentary seats, have rejected the election results, claiming fraud.

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