Iran Strongly Slams Terrorist Attack on Iraq’s Samarra City

On Thursday, a total of 80 people were killed and some 88 wounded in separate attacks in Iraq as Iraqi security forces re-took control of the city of Samarra in Salahudin province which was seized by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorists.

“Iran calls on the international community as well as world bodies to honor their commitments with respect to offering strong support to the Iraqi government and nation in their campaign against terrorism,” Afkham said late Thursday.

She expressed deep concern over the probability of expansion of such mindless criminal acts by the foreign-backed terrorists, and warned against any type of breaching of the sanctity of the religious centers in that city, specially the holy Shiite shrines.

ISIL gunmen attacked several security checkpoints in the Iraqi city of Samarra on Thursday morning, sparking hours of deadly fighting with Iraqi security forces, provincial police officials said.

Samarra is a religiously holy city, about 100 kilometers north of Baghdad.

Iraq has been plagued by terrorist and political violence fueled by foreign interference in a bid to weaken the legal government.

Last year was the deadliest in Iraq since 2008, with more than 8,800 people killed, most of them civilians, according to the United Nations.