Iraqi officials say the death toll has risen to more than 80 killed in an Islamic State group-claimed attack in southern Iraq targeting a restaurant frequented by Shiite Muslim pilgrims.
Provincial governor Yahya Al Nassiri on Friday said the number of dead now stood at 84 people. with a further 93 people injured in the attack in Nassiriya, in Iraq's southern Thi Qar province on Thursday evening. Among them, seven Iranians were killed and 16 wounded.
Mr Al Nassiri said the province's director of intelligence had been removed and the interior ministry had called for him to be investigated.
The attack began as a shooting at a checkpoint and restaurant along the main road that connects the province to Baghdad, followed by two suicide bombers, one driving a car full of explosives.
the attacks have been described as a change of tactics for the extremists, signalling a return to large-scale insurgent attacks after losing so much of their territory since the liberation of Mosul.
_________________
Read more:
[ ISIL kill 60 in suicide attacks on restaurants and a checkpoint in southern Iraq ]
[ Battle to remove ISIL from Hawija could unlock further sectarian tensions ]
[ Suicide bombers kill 7 in attack on Iraq power plant ]
_________________
