SALADIN, Iraq
Eight people, including four Shia militia fighters, were killed and 19 others were injured in two explosions in the northern Iraqi province of Saladin’s Tuz Khormato town Tuesday, police said.
An improvised explosive device struck a vehicle of the Shia militia group, al-Hashid al-Sha’bi, in Amirli district that left four fighters dead and 15 others injured, town police officer Mohamed al-Barzanji told AA.
The militia fighters belonged to the group’s al-Imam al-Abbas faction, al-Barzanji added.
In a separate attack, four people were killed and two others were injured in another improvised explosive device blast at a minibus stop in al-Askari neighborhood, he added.
According to a UN report released Monday, at least 11,602 civilians were killed and another 21,766 were injured between January and Dec. 10, 2014. While, between June 1 and Dec. 10, 2014, when the conflict spread from Anbar province to other parts of Iraq, at least 7, 801 civilians were killed and 12,451 wounded, the report added.
Iraq has plunged into a security vacuum since June 2014, when Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant stormed the northern Iraqi province of Mosul and declared what it called a caliphate in Iraq and Syria.
The ISIL massacres and the massive deportation of population led to the creation of an international coalition against the terror group. The U.S.-led coalition is staging airstrikes against ISIL objectives in Iraq and Syria since mid-September 2014.
