Iraqi Official: ISIS Attack on Intelligence Bureau Wounds 3 Security Personnel

Iraqi officials said militants wearing a suicide vest struck an intelligence bureau in northern Iraq on Tuesday, blaming the attack on the ISIS terrorist group.

 

The attack wounded at least three members of Iraq’s security personnel.

 

A senior Iraqi intelligence official told The Associated Press (AP) that the department “had knowledge that ISIS would carry out a suicide operation against the Intelligence Directorate, but we did not know on which day.”

 

Iraqi security forces had spotted two men, one wearing an explosive vest and a driver, approaching the gate of the Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism Directorate in the Qadisiyah neighborhood in the northern city of Kirkuk, a security official said.

 

The man hurled a grenade and then detonated his explosives vest before entering the premises, according to the official, noting that the other man, apparently the driver, sped away from the the scene.

 

ISIS did not claim responsibility for the attack.

 

The security official and the senior intelligence official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

 

The attack was the first attempted suicide bombing in recent months, coming amid minor ISIS attacks in the provinces of Kirkuk, Diyala and Salahaddin.

 

According to AP, the US-led coalition recently withdrew troops from its bases in the region, including in Kirkuk, in line with a planned drawdown of forces that would reduce the coalition’s presence to bases in Baghdad and the western Anbar province.