A suicide bomber has detonated his explosives belt at a football stadium south of the Iraqi capital, killing at least 29 people and injuring 60 others, the security head in Babel province has said.
\nThe blast in Iskandariya, a mixed Sunni and Shia Muslim town, happened around 16:15 GMT on Friday at the end of an amateur soccer game, said Falah al-Khafaji, the security head in Babel province.
\nThe Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group that controls swathes of territory in Iraq’s north and west was behind the attack, according to Amaq news agency, which is affiliated with the group.
\nAt least 60 people were killed earlier this monthin an attack claimed by ISIL 80 km further south, in Hilla, when an explosives-laden fuel tanker slammed into an Iraqi security checkpoint.
\nAn apparent escalation of large bombings targeting areas outside ISIL’s primary control suggests that Iraqi government forces may be stretched thin after recent gains against the group in the western and northern provinces.<\/p>\n
Thousands protest the government
\nMeanwhile, thousands have rallied in Baghdad in support of Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who has taken the lead role in protests demanding government reforms.
\nAl-Sadr’s associate, Sheik Asad al-Nasiri, delivered a message from the cleric at a rally on Friday in the Iraqi capital, giving Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi 24 hours to implement wide-ranging reforms such as installing technocrats in key political positions.
\nOtherwise, the message says, the protesters will not limit themselves to sit-ins outside the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, where the government is headquartered and where al-Sadr’s followers demonstrated last week.
\nThe weekly rallies in Baghdad are meant to put pressure on Iraq’s political leadership.
\nThe prime minister’s efforts to implement reform have been thwarted by his own political mis-steps as well as the country’s increasingly sectarian politics.
\nLast month, Abadi, now a year and a half into his four-year term, said he wanted to replace his ministers with technocrats to challenge the system of patronage that encourages corruption by distributing posts along political, ethnic and sectarian lines.
\nSadr and his supporters have held regular demonstrations demanding reforms to tackle corruption, which is eating into Baghdad’s resources even as it struggles with falling revenues due to a slump in global oil prices and high spending caused by the costs of war against ISIL.<\/p>\n
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