BAGHDAD—An Iraqi official blamed the ISIS group on Monday for the bombing of two Sunni mosques in a predominantly Shiite city in southern Iraq the previous night, saying the militant group seeks to stoke sectarian tensions.
Provincial security official Falah al-Khafaji told The Associated Press that ISIS, “did this to inflame sectarian strife in the country.”
The bombing in the city of Hilla late on Sunday damaged both mosques but caused no casualties, according to the government.
The attacks come amid an escalating Saudi-Iranian spat over the kingdom’s execution of prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, which sparked outrage among Shiites across the region over the weekend. In Baghdad Monday, supporters of influential Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr gathered outside the heavily fortified Green Zone to protest the Nimr execution, demanding Iraq cut diplomatic ties with Saudi Arabia.
However Khafaji said he doesn’t believe that the Hilla bombings were carried out by Shiites seeking revenge, instead blaming ISIS for seeking to exploit the current Sunni-Shiite tensions. Authorities are beefing up security around the two targeted mosques and other Sunni mosques in the city, he said.
