Thursday, June 19, 2014

ISIL Militants Wage Attack on Samarra Shia Sites
Iraqi volunteers to fight the ISIL.
Thu Jun 19, 2014 9:20AM GMT
presstv.ir

Militants from the so-called the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terror group have waged an attack on the holiest sites of Shia Muslims in the Iraqi city of Samarra in another act of terrorism.

According to reports on Wednesday, the Takfiri militants fired rockets near the shrines of Shia Imams in the holy city.

Reports also said that at least fourteen people, including a woman and a child, lost their lives in the attack.

The city, located nearly 120 kilometers (74 miles) north of Baghdad, is home to the holy shrines of two Shia Imams and a major pilgrimage site visited by tens of millions of Muslims annually despite the tense security situation in the area.

In 2006, the holy sites came under similar attacks by al-Qaeda militants.

Iraq is currently witnessing a wave of violence unprecedented in recent years.

On June 10, the ISIL militants took control of Mosul, the capital of Nineveh Province, which was followed by the fall of Tikrit, located 140 kilometers (87 miles) northwest of the capital Baghdad.

Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi people have been forced out of their homes since the attacks.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has vowed that the country’s security forces would confront the foreign-sponsored terrorists, describing the seizure of Mosul as a “conspiracy.” Maliki has also said Saudi Arabia and Qatar are responsible for the security crisis and growing terrorism in his country, denouncing the Al Saud regime as a major supporter of global terrorism.

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