ISIL suicide attack in Iraq kills 38 people

BAGHDAD // A massive ISIL suicide attack on a police base south of the Iraqi city of Samarra on Monday killed at least 38 members of the security forces.

One report said the militants drove a tank rigged with explosives into the complex, while another said the suicide bombers simultaneously drove three Humvees – seized from the Iraq army – into the building.

Another 46 people were wounded in the attack on the Muthanna base, in an area from which security forces and Shiite paramilitaries have been fighting to drive out the insurgents, military sources said.

The multiple attacks caused a large explosion in an ammunition depot inside the base, they said.

“They are mostly policemen,” said a doctor at the hospital in Samarra where the casualties were brought.

The complex is being used as part of a military operation aimed at cutting off ISIL’s supply lines in Anbar province.

ISIL fighters have in the past year seized a formidable arsenal of military vehicles, weapons and ammunition from retreating Iraqi forces.

Prime minister Haider Al Abadi said on Sunday that Iraq had lost 2,300 Humvee armoured vehicles during the fall of Mosul last year.

* Agencies