At least 14 Martyred in Daesh Truck Bomb in Baghdad

Local Editor

At least 14 people had been martyred when a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-rigged vehicle at an entrance to Baghdad, in an attack claimed by the Wahhabi Daesh [Arabic acronym for "ISIS" / "ISIL"], officials said Thursday.

The blast, which hit the checkpoint at the main southern entrance to the city Wednesday night, also wounded at least 36 people, the officials said.

Daesh issued a statement claiming the attack, saying it was carried out by a suicide bomber driving a truck "carrying several tons of explosive material."

The extremist group overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but Iraqi forces backed by US-led airstrikes had since regained much of the territory they lost.

Iraqi security forces are now battling Daesh in west Mosul, the last city in the country in which the extremists hold significant ground.

But even the full recapture of Mosul will not do away with the threat of Daesh bombings that had plagued Iraq for years. The extremist group still holds territory in the country's west, as well as in Syria.

And even the loss of all that territory would not prevent it from reverting to underground insurgent cells carrying out bombings against civilians and hit-and-run attacks on security forces.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team