Dozens dead in trio of ISIS attacks in Iraq

The aftermath of an ISIS bombing in Baghdad
(Image credit: Sabah Arar/Getty Images)

Dozens of people were killed and more wounded in three attacks believed to be perpetrated by the Islamic State terrorist organization in and near Baghdad, Iraq, on Saturday.

The largest of the trio was a suicide bombing at a religious gathering in Baghdad. The bomb killed at least 35 people and injured at least 63 more, local officials said. The victims were Shiite Muslims whom ISIS, as Sunni extremists, considers heretics.

Two smaller attacks north of Baghdad targeted a police checkpoint and the family of a Sunni militia chief who opposes ISIS. The first incident killed eight police officers and wounded 11, while in the second, ISIS gunmen stormed the militia leader's house and murdered his wife and children, who were home alone. Both gunmen later killed themselves with explosive belts to avoid capture.

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.