BAGHDAD — An attack on a cafe in central Iraq killed at least 13 people Friday, including a group of Real Madrid soccer fans, prompting condemnation from the Spanish government and the football club, which said players would wear black armbands in mourning.
The Islamic State claimed the attack, in which a group of gunmen and two suicide bombers assaulted a cafe in Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad. An additional 15 people were wounded in the assault, which the terrorist group said had targeted government-allied militiamen.
The Islamic State did not mention soccer fans in its statement, and it’s unlikely that they were the target of the attack. Most attacks target Iraqi security forces, pro-government militias and areas packed with Shiite civilians. The bombings are aimed at distracting from the group’s battlefield losses and undermining faith in the Shiite-led Iraqi government. The attack came on the heels of a two-day wave of bombings in Baghdad that killed nearly 100 people.
