Militants with the Islamic State group on Monday captured a military training camp in western Iraq, inching closer to full control of the restive Anbar province, as a spate of deadly bombings shook Baghdad, hitting mostly Shiite neighborhoods and leaving at least 30 dead.
The attacks, which came as Iraqi Shiites marked a major holiday for their sect with families crowding the streets in celebration, raised new concerns that the Sunni militant group is making gains despite U.S.-led coalition airstrikes.
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, on a visit to Iraq, warned that the airstrikes will not be enough to defeat the extremist group and stressed that the Iraqi security forces would have to do the “heavy work on the ground.”
But Iraqi troops, overstretched and overwhelmed by the Islamic State group’s summer blitz that seized large swaths of territory in western and northern Iraq, continued to come under pressure Monday in the western Anbar province, where militants seized an Iraqi military training camp.
The camp, near the town of Hit that fell to the insurgents earlier this month, was overrun in the morning hours after clashes with Iraqi soldiers who were forced to abandon the camp and withdraw from the area, two Anbar officials said. Town residents confirmed the camp’s fall, speaking on condition of anonymity, fearing for their own safety.
The Islamic State group touted its conquest of the camp in a statement Monday. The statement could not immediately be verified but it was posted on militant websites commonly used by the group.
In Baghdad, which has largely been spared the violence seen in other parts of Iraq amid the Islamic State group’s onslaught, bombings killed at least 30 people and wounded scores more Monday.
The attacks, hitting three Shiite-majority neighborhoods, came as many Iraqi Shiites families took to the streets to celebrate the Eid al-Ghadeer holiday, which commemorates the Shiite Imam Ali, the Prophet Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law and the sect’s most sacred martyr.
In the eastern Habibiya district, police said 15 people died and 34 were wounded when a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden car into a police checkpoint. Earlier in the day, a car bomb struck near a bus stop in northern Baghdad, killing 11 and wounding 22. And in the sprawling district of Sadr City, a bomb hidden in a vegetable cart killed four and wounded 18.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks but the Islamic State fighters say they have a foothold inside Baghdad and have claimed several large-scale bombings in the city in the past months, particularly in the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City.
About the Author
