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Daesh attacked mosques to inflame sectarian strife: Iraq PM

Tuesday, 05 January 2016 9:34 AM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 05 January 2016 9:35 AM ]

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ©AFP

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi says Daesh and similar Takfiri elements are behind recent deadly attacks on Sunni mosques in the country in an attempt to “undermine national unity.”

In a Monday post on online social media, Abadi warned that the attacks were aimed at dragging the Iraqi nation into a sectarian conflict.

At least two people were killed and three others injured when unidentified assailants bombed three Sunni mosques in different areas of the Iraqi province of Babil early on Monday. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the assaults.

“We have told the operations leaders in Babil to track down the criminal gangs from groups like Daesh and the like, which use [the attacks on] the mosques to stir up sedition and undermine national unity,” al-Abadi wrote.

An Iraqi policeman walks amidst the debris at a mosque targeted by a bomb attack in Hilla south Baghdad on January 4, 2016. ©AFP

Falah al-Khafaji, a provincial security official, also said Daesh had a hand in the attacks, adding the terrorist group “did this to inflame sectarian strife in the country.”

Daesh has seized swathes of land in Iraq since June 2014. The militants have been carrying out beheadings, summary executions, and kidnappings targeting different religious communities in Iraq, including Shias, Sunnis, Kurds and Christians.

The Iraqi army has been engaged in large-scale military operations to liberate Daesh-held areas.

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