Death toll in Iraq football pitch carnage at 32
Iskandariyah (Iraq) (AFP) – The village of Al-Asriya, south of Baghdad, prepared Saturday to bury its sons, killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up after a football tournament.
The attacker, who himself looks like a teenager on a photo distributed by the Islamic State group that claimed the attack, cut through the crowd when trophies were being presented.
“There are 32 dead and also 84 wounded, 12 of whom are in critical condition,” an official in Babil province health directorate told AFP. “Seventeen of those killed are boys aged between 10 and 16,” the official said.
The village of Al-Asriya lies near Iskandariyah, a town about 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of the capital. The bomber detonated his suicide vest late afternoon on Friday as local officials were handing trophies to the players after a local tournament.
