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Anadolu Agency (26 December 2018)

A car bombing in Iraq’s majority-Turkmen Tal Afar district was aimed at “undermining the country’s tribal and social cohesion”, the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF) warned Tuesday.

According to Iraqi officials, the bombing -- which occurred Tuesday morning -- left at least two people dead and a dozen more injured.

In a statement, ITF leader Arshad al-Salihi warned that terrorists “still seek to strike at the national unity that Iraq’s security forces have sought to safeguard”.

“Today’s bombing in Tal Afar,” he added, “was aimed at undermining the country’s tribal and social cohesion.”

Al-Salihi also stressed the importance of supporting Iraq’s intelligence and security apparatus “with a view to uncovering the circumstances of this deadly incident”.

Located in Iraq’s northern Nineveh province, majority-Turkmen Tal Afar sits roughly 60 kilometers west of provincial capital Mosul.

As of Tuesday afternoon, no group had claimed responsibility for the deadly car bombing, although the Iraqi authorities typically blame such attacks on the Daesh terrorist group.

Last December, officials in Baghdad declared that Daesh's military presence in Iraq had been all but destroyed following a three-year conflict that ended with the fall of Daesh-held Mosul.

The Iraqi army, however, continues to wage frequent operations against Daesh "sleeper cells", which allegedly remain active in certain parts of the country.

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/tal-afar-attack-targeted-national-unity-iraq-turkmen/1348589