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Extremist group Islamic State (IS) on Thursday claimed a suicide car bomb attack in the city of Arbil, the usually secure capital of the autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq.
In an online statement, the IS boasted that it had “breached all the security checkpoints of the agent Kurdistan government and reached the heart of the city of Arbil”.
It also identified that bomber as Abdulrahman al-Kurdi, hinting that he was of Kurdish ethnicity.
The bomb struck the main checkpoint near a provincial government headquarters in Arbil on Wednesday just before noon, killing four people and injuring over two dozen others. It was considered the worst attack to hit the city since September 29th, 2013, when militants targeted the headquarters of the asayesh security forces, killing seven people and injuring 60 others.
The three-province autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq is generally not plagued with the rampant violence which occurs in other parts of the country on a regular basis. But the current battle between the IS and Kurdish security forces, especially after the IS’ sweeping offensive through Iraq in June has made it a much more prominent target for militants.
The initial IS advance had brushed aside Iraqi security forces in the north, allowing Kurds to control swathe of disputed territory which they had wanted to incorporate into their autonomous region despite objections from Baghdad.
IS then turned its attention to the north in August, launching a fresh drive that has pushed Kurdish security forces back to Arbil, which helped spark the US-led aerial campaign against the group that has since expanded to Syria.
Kurdish forces, pro-regime government fighters and federal forces, backed by the strikes, have been able to regain ground lost to the IS. However, significant territory is still controlled by the extremist group.