Officials: More than 80 dead in IS-claimed Iraq attack
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Iraqi officials say the death toll has risen to more than 80 killed in an Islamic State group-claimed attack in southern Iraq targeting a restaurant frequented by Shiite Muslim pilgrims.
Provincial Gov. Yahya al-Nassiri said Friday that 84 people were killed and 93 people were injured in the attack in Nasiriyah, in Iraq's southern Thi Qar province Thursday evening. Among them, seven Iranians were killed and 16 wounded.
Al-Nassiri says the province's director of intelligence was removed and the Interior Ministry called for him to be investigated.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The attack began as a shooting at a checkpoint and restaurant along the main road that connects the province to Baghdad, followed by two suicide bombers, one driving an explosives-laden car. IS fighters often turn to large-scale insurgent attacks following territorial losses.