Basra, Dec. 7 (BNA) The Iraqi army said that a bomb killed four people and wounded four others in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Tuesday, and a senior official said that ISIS is suspected of carrying out the attack.
The army said in a statement, citing preliminary information, that the explosion near a large hospital in the Shiite-dominated city was caused by a motorcycle rigged with explosives.
No one immediately claimed responsibility.
Basra Governor Asaad al-Eidani told reporters from Reuters that the explosion bore the hallmarks of ISIS.
A Reuters witness said policemen were collecting body parts from a minibus that was badly damaged by the blast. The street was covered in broken glass and blood.
Bomb attacks in southern Iraq, where the bulk of the country’s oil is produced, are relatively rare.
Police and hospital sources told Reuters earlier that 20 people were wounded, in addition to the four dead.
Iraq, with the help of a US-led coalition and Iranian-backed forces, declared victory over ISIS in December 2017, after being expelled from vast swathes of territory in which it declared the Islamic caliphate.
But the group continues to launch sporadic attacks, particularly in the north, where ISIS briefly took control of a village on Sunday before being expelled.
FKN