Islamic State resurfaces with attacks in Iraq’s Diyala province
The Islamic State's gruesome killing of a sheikh and some of his relatives by rigging his corpse with explosives has led to security concerns in the multiethnic region bordering Iran, long a hotbed for extremism and susceptible to sectarianism.
Another recent uptick in attacks attributed to the Islamic State (IS) in the long-problematic Diyala region northeast of Baghdad near the Iranian border has raised questions about security in the region, while many warn of worsening sectarian tension there and elsewhere.
A Shiite sheikh from the Bani Kaab tribe who was reportedly active in the fight against IS near Khailaniyah in the Muqdadiyah area of Diyala was killed on Oct. 27 along with four of his relatives. The sheikh was said to have been beheaded, while his body was rigged with explosives that then killed those who had come to retrieve him.
Initial reports had stated that a shepherd or buffalo herder had been kidnapped and killed but later it was discovered that the victim was the Bani Kaab tribal sheikh.
First deputy speaker of the Iraqi parliament Hassan Karim al-Kaabi, from the same tribe, issued a statement on the attack, mourning the tribal leader and calling him "one of the great sheikhs who fought terrorism."
