ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A motorcycle bombing has killed at least four people with four more wounded when it exploded near the al-Jumhuri General Hospital in Iraq's southern city of Basra at midday on Tuesday, a senior security official told Rudaw.
Iraq’s Security Media Cell has since confirmed on their Telegram channel that four civilians were killed and four others injured when two vehicles near to the motorcycle caught fire after a bomb was detonated at the Al-Samoud intersection in Basra.
Basra’s governor, Asaad al-Idani, told reporters that the explosion was a motorcycle bomb. Forensics teams are at the scene of the blast, and further details will be released once investigations are completed.
Basma Salma, a former member of the city’s governorate council, told Rudaw on Tuesday that “the explosion struck Basra city centre, close to the al-Jumhuri General Hospital.”
“Basra is being renovated. Security in Basra is 90 percent calm. The authorities will investigate and reveal who is behind the explosion,” she added.
No one has yet claimed responsibility for the bomb, which occurred on an intersection in central Basra close to the hospital and a popular market.
Recent weeks have seen a spate of Islamic State (ISIS) attacks on Peshmerga forces and civilians in the disputed areas between the Kurdistan Region and Iraq, as the terrorist group takes advantage of security gaps between Peshmerga and Iraqi forces.
The last major attack claimed by ISIS in Iraq was the explosion in al-Wahilat market in Baghdad’s Sadr City in July, killing around 30 people.
