Alghadeer TV Alghadeer TV
Several members of the security forces were injured in the first suicide attack in months
Iraq has blamed ISIS for a suicide attack on its intelligence bureau in the northern city of Kirkuk on Tuesday when at least three security force members were wounded.
Authorities said two men – one wearing a vest rigged with explosives and the other a driver – approached the headquarters of the Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism Directorate in the Qadisiyah neighborhood by car. One of the men threw a grenade towards the building and then detonated his vest, the official said.
The other man drove away.
ISIS sleeper cells have stepped up ambushes and attacks across northern Iraq in recent weeks, killing and wounding security personnel.
Although the militant group did not claim responsibility for the attack, an Iraqi intelligence official told The Associated Press that his agency “had knowledge that Daesh would carry out a suicide operation against the intelligence directorate, but we did not know on which day”.
Iraqi forces and their international partners managed to beat back ISIS and declare military victory in 2017, although the group has continued to launch attacks across the country.
