At least 40 people have been killed and more than 60 wounded after a suicide car bomb attack targeted a police officer’s wedding in Amiriyat al-Fallujah in Iraq, police sources have told Al Jazeera. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the explosion on Thursday, but police said they believed that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group was responsible for the attack.
Amiriyat al-Fallujah, 35km south of Fallujah, is home to pro-government Sunni tribal fighters, who fought ISIL for more than two years and repelled many attacks on their town before the armed group was pushed out of Fallujah in June. ISIL, also known as ISIS, has been losing territory in Iraq over the past year. It is now facing a big battle to hold the northern city of Mosul, its last stronghold in the country.