(Nasiriyah) At least
50 people have been killed in twin gun and car bomb attacks in southern Iraq. Gunmen wearing military uniforms stormed into a restaurant
in Nasiriyah, about 200 miles south of Baghdad, around lunch time. They opened
fire on the patrons there, who included Iranian and Iraqi pilgrims traveling
north toward the Shiite shrines in Karbala and Najaf, Moments later, a car bomb exploded at a police checkpoint
near the restaurant, which sits along Highway 1, the road that connects Baghdad
with Dhi Qar province, where the attack took place.
An additional 80 people were injured in the two attacks,
which the Islamic State later claimed in a statement released online by its
propaganda arm.
