Motorcycle explosion in southern Iraqi city kills at least 4

Basra: A motorcycle rigged with explosives went off in center of Iraq’s southern city of Basra on Tuesday, killing at least four people and wounding four others, according to Iraqi security forces. The blast set ablaze two other vehicles and sent a column of black smoke into sky.

The governor of Basra, Asaad al-Idani, told reporters on scene that a motorcycle had exploded, quickly blaming militants from Islamic State group.There was no immediate claim of responsibility for morning attack near a major hospital, which shook residents of city. 

Iraq’s Security Media Cell, an outlet affiliated with country’s security forces, said



in a statement that four people were killed and four were wounded as a result of the fire in two cars that were near motorcycle.It said forensics teams were at the scene of the blast and that more details would be released on nature of explosion, once investigations were completed. Explosions have been rare in oil-rich, predominantly Shiite Basra region in recent years, particularly since defeat of Sunni militant Islamic State group in 2017.

“Daesh is trying to destabilize security in Basra, but it will not be successful,” Al-Idani said after inspecting damage from blast, using Arabic acronym for Islamic State group.