IS suicide bombers kill four at Iraq-Jordan crossing
AFP
April 25, 2015, 11:14 pm
Baghdad (AFP) - The Islamic State group claimed an attack Saturday by French, Belgian and Senegalese suicide bombers on the Iraq-Jordan border that officials said killed at least four Iraqi security personnel.
The bombers detonated explosives-rigged vehicles, one of them a lorry, at checkpoints on the Iraqi side of the Turaibil crossing, said Sabah Karhout, the head of the Anbar province council.
He put the toll at four dead and eight wounded.
The deputy head of the crossing, Khaled Alwan, and army Colonel Jabr Khailan, both confirmed the attack but gave higher tolls.
The Islamic State (IS) jihadist group claimed the assault in a statement posted online, saying the bombers were from France, Belgium and Senegal.
It said the bombers targeted the main checkpoint at the crossing, a mess hall and sleeping quarters for security personnel, and an army patrol.
Iraqi security forces control pockets of territory in Anbar, a vast desert province that stretches from the borders with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to the western approaches to Baghdad.
But much of the province is held by IS, which spearheaded an offensive last June that overran swathes of territory north and west of the Iraqi capital.
Some areas have been out of government control for longer than that. Anti-government fighters seized parts of Ramadi and all of Fallujah, to its east, in early 2014.
