A string of bombings in Karbala and Baghdad has left 40 dead and another 100 wounded on Monday.
A quadruple car bombing in Karbala occurred at Shiite shrines dedicated to Imams Abbas and Hussein. The blast killed 22 immediately, UPI reports.
Simultaneously, a suicide bomber attacked a Shiite mosque during mid-day prayer services. The bomber shot an armed guard and the Imam before detonating a suicide vest, which killed 15.
Monday’s events come after an attack in Baghdad on Sunday night; a suicide bomber attacked a Shiite mosque in the al-Harthiya district and killed 21 people.
A statement from the head of the Karbala Provincial Council, Nusaif Jassim, claimed the attacks come as retribution for the Iraqi Security Forces’ recent victories against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. The ISF recently expelled ISIS forces from the town of Jurf al-Sakhr, a strategic waypoint located in the Anbar province.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for Monday’s attacks.