{"id":275,"date":"2016-12-01T01:14:23","date_gmt":"2016-12-01T01:14:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/?p=275"},"modified":"2016-12-01T01:14:23","modified_gmt":"2016-12-01T01:14:23","slug":"iraq-bomb-kills-at-least-80-mostly-iranian-shiite-pilgrims-isis-claims-responsibility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/2016\/12\/01\/iraq-bomb-kills-at-least-80-mostly-iranian-shiite-pilgrims-isis-claims-responsibility\/","title":{"rendered":"Iraq bomb kills at least 80, mostly Iranian Shi’ite pilgrims; ISIS claims responsibility"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Irbil, Iraq (CNN)<\/cite>At least 80 people were killed Thursday when a truck bomb exploded at a gas station in Iraq, the U.S. State Department said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Most of the victims were Iranian Shi’ite pilgrims, according to authorities in Iraq.<\/div>\n
ISIS, a Sunni terror group, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted online.<\/div>\n
“The flames of battles in Mosul will reach them in Baghdad, Karbala and Najaf,” the ISIS statement reads. It also said Iranians were among those killed.<\/div>\n
The blast happened on a highway southeast of Baghdad between Babel and Al-Qadisiyyah, said Falah al Radhi, the head of the Babel security council.<\/div>\n
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In additions to those killed, Radhi said at least 50 people were wounded.<\/div>\n
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Exclusive: ISIS prisoners speak to CNN<\/span> 03:19<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The parked truck exploded near several buses carrying Shi’ite pilgrims — mostly Iranians — Radhi said. The Iranian pilgrims were in Iraq to commemorate Imam Hussein’s death.<\/div>\n
Hussein was the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed. After Mohammed’s death in 632, Hussein was killed during a battle near Karbala for control of the Muslim nation.<\/div>\n
Hussein’s 7th-century death led to a split between Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims that still divides the sects today.<\/div>\n
During former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s rule, the Sunni leader forbade Shi’ite pilgrims from making the journey on foot. But after the US-led invasion toppled the President, the pilgrimages grew in numbers.<\/div>\n
In recent years, scores of pilgrims have been killed in attacks blamed on Sunni extremists<\/a>. Despite ongoing dangers, Shi’ite pilgrims still make the journey to Karbala.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Irbil, Iraq (CNN)At least 80 people were killed Thursday when a truck bomb exploded at a gas station in Iraq, the U.S. State Department said. Most of the victims were Iranian Shi’ite pilgrims, according to authorities in Iraq. ISIS, a Sunni terror group, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted online. “The flames of battles in Mosul will… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":276,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275\/revisions\/276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}