AFP, KARBALA: Attackers armed with suicide vests, rifles and grenades killed 18 people in the Iraqi oasis town of Ain al-Tamer, many of them guests at a wedding party, local officials said Monday.
“They were carrying Kalashnikovs, hand grenades. One of them blew himself up and the others were killed by the security forces,” said the head of central Euphrates operations command, Qais Khalaf.
A local council member and a provincial health directorate source confirmed the death toll in the attack, which took place late Sunday, and said at least 26 others were wounded.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but all recent suicide operations in Iraq have been claimed by the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group.
Ain al-Tamer, southwest of Baghdad, is located 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the Shiite holy city of Karbala and on the edge of Anbar province, long a haven for jihadists.