SAMARRA: At least 16 people died in a bomb attack on Thursday during funerals in a northern village for Iraqi fighters killed by the militant Islamic State group, the mayor said.

Salaheddin Shaalan said that a bomb targeted a funeral procession in Asdira, near the town of Sharqat, for fighters killed the previous day. Most of the 14 people wounded in the blast were in “critical condition”, he said.

The funerals were for three fighters who had died a day earlier from the Tribal Mobalisation Forces, a network of Sunni militias that back the government in its fight against IS militants, said the town’s leader Ali Dowdah.

Militants planted explosive devices at the grave site and set them off during the funeral procession, he said. Shirqat is in Iraq’s Salah al-Din province.

Published in Dawn, April 13th, 2018