Islamic State says it bombed Sunni area in Iraq

Jihadist terror group takes responsibility for car bombing that killed 10 people in Basra

By AP 6 October 2015, 1:21 pm

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Iraqis gather at the site of a car bomb attack that hit the day before a market area known as Souk al-Halaqin in Zubayr, just 10 kilometers (six miles) southwest of the oil hub of Basra on October 6, 2015. (AFP/HAIDAR MOHAMMED ALI)

BAGHDAD — The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a car bombing in Iraq’s southern, predominantly Shiite city of Basra that killed at least 10 people the day before.

IS says in a statement posted on a Twitter account linked to the group that it carried out Monday’s attack in Basra’s southwest suburb of al-Zubair, targeting Shiites. The Sunni-dominated al-Zubair is located 50 kilometers (31 miles) southwest of Basra.

The attack was part of a series of bombings across Iraq that killed at least 56 people.

The Associated Press could not immediately verify the authenticity of the statement, but its language and phrasing is consistent with past IS claims of responsibility.

IS controls large swaths of Iraq’s north and west, including its second-largest city of Mosul and most of Anbar province.