ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A roadside explosion killed a woman and injured 6 others from a single family who were en route to a village near the border of Tuz Khurmatu on Friday, according to a local official.
Hassan Zain al-Abidin, the mayor of Tuz Khurmatu, told Rudaw that “the bomb was concealed within a jerry can. The bomb exploded as the family was returning from Tuz Khurmatu to the village of Zanjali. The security forces are presently investigating at the scene of the incident."
"The woman who was killed was 40 years old and the mother of four children. Her brother, children and spouse were injured and are now being treated at Komari Hospital in Tuz Khurmatu," Abidin said.
The blast was carried out by the Islamic State (ISIS), according to the mayor of Tuz Khurmatu, given the increased activity of ISIS militants near the border. The villagers of Zanjali had been warned to evacuate due to the threat of attack by ISIS. He said they did not heed the warnings and, unfortunately, this incident happened as a result.
A lack of coordination between security forces in areas disputed between Erbil and Baghdad - largely in Salahaddin, Kirkuk, and Diyala provinces - has created a security vacuum that ISIS sleeper cells exploit to carry out ambushes, attacks and kidnappings.
Three farmers were abducted near Tuz Khurmatu earlier in March by ISIS
Abidin said that the abducted were Sunni Arabs and residents of Hlewa village, located ten kilometers west of Tuz Khurmatu.
ISIS militants were killed in a ground and air operation between Kurdish Peshmerga and French forces in areas between the Diyala districts of Kifri and Tuz Khurmatu in June. The offensive was “in revenge” for the deaths of four Peshmerga troops in ISIS attacks
