BAGHDAD — Suicide bombers struck a village north of Baghdad as a wedding party gathered in the evening, killing at least 26 people and wounding scores, a government spokesman said on Thursday. The assault began late Wednesday when an assailant wearing an explosives-laden belt walked into the wedding party at an open area in Hajaj, near the city of Tikrit, about 120 miles north of Baghdad. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, which wounded an estimated 67 people, but suspicion has already fallen on the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS or ISIL. PhotoThe wedding party was being held for a family that had been displaced from Anbar Province, which is in western Iraq and is home to a tribe that opposes the Islamic State group. Islamic State militants captured Tikrit during its blitz across Iraq in the summer of 2014, when the group seized nearly a third of the country.

Source: New York Times March 09, 2017 13:12 UTC