Iraqi refugees killed by roadside bomb near Tikrit

Two roadside bombs struck a convoy carrying Iraqi families fleeing a Daesh-controlled town in the north of the country late last night, killing 18 people, a member of the Iraqi federal police said.

The bombs targeted a truck carrying people from Hawija, about 120 kilometres south of Daesh’s stronghold in Mosul, as they were being taken to the town of Al-Alam, next to the River Tigris.

17 of the dead were from the displaced families fleeing violence further north, regional police Colonel Nemaa Al-Jibouri told Reuters. One policeman in an accompanying patrol car was also killed.

Pictures published on social media by a group linked to both Iraq’s defence ministry and Shia militias from the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) showed several blackened corpses next to the twisted metal remains of the truck.

MEMO could not independently verify the authenticity of the photographs, but this latest attack highlights the continued plight of internally displaced people in Iraq.

Hawija is still contested and Daesh militants are highly active in the region. In fact, yesterday Daesh managed to launch an attack against Shirqat, previously thought secured and cleared from the extremist organisation, from Hawija.

A couple of weeks ago, Daesh militants managed to move men and weapons from Hawija to Kirkuk in the first of now three surprise attacks launched against towns and cities that were claimed to have been secured by the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF).

ISF commanders have yet to prise Hawija away from Daesh, and analysts say that this in turn means that ISF rear operating areas are vulnerable to Daesh attacks.