• An ISIS suicide bomber attacks a soccer stadium in Baghdad, Iraq
• 29 people were killed, while over 60 others were wounded in the suicide bombing
• ISIS released online a photo of the young suicide bomber
A suicide bomber blew himself up amid the crowd that gathered at a soccer stadium in a village south of Baghdad, Iraq on Friday, March 25, killing at least 29 people and wounding more than 60 others.
In an article he wrote for the Daily Mail that was published on March 25, 2016, Tom Wyke said the Islamic State Islamic extremist group claimed responsibility for the attack and released a photo of the young suicide bomber named as Saifullah al-Ansari. The SITE Intelligence Group, a monitoring organization that tracts jihadist activities online, said ISIS claimed responsibility for the bombing through a statement posted online.
In a statement released on Amaq news agency, ISIS said the suicide bomber wore an explosive belt to kill “apostates.”
A local police officer said the suicide bomber attacked as soccer players took part in a trophy presentation at the end of the game.
“They were just handing the trophy to the winners when the suicide attacker blew himself up in the crowd” the police officer said.
The bombing occurred a day after the Iraqi military announced that Iraqi troops and Sunni tribal warriors recaptured the town of Kubeisa in western Anbar province from ISIS. The Iraqi security forces are preparing to retake the province of Nineveh and the northern city of Mosul, the largest held by the militants in the territory they control across parts of Iraq and Syria.
Security analysts said they expect ISIS to resort to more insurgency-style attacks as it loses ground on the battlefield. The U.S.-led coalition claimed that ISIS has lost more than 40 percent of the territory it once held in Iraq and as much as 20 percent of its territory in Syria.
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