BAGHDAD, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Special Envoy to Iraq Jan Kubis on Monday strongly condemned the car bomb attack that killed five people and wounded 13 others in Tikrit, capital of Iraq's central province of Salahudin.
A statement issued by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) quoted Kubis as saying "this cowardly attack outside a restaurant in central Tikrit is pure evil. It has no aims other than to kill civilians and to try to destroy Iraq's recovery and peaceful march after years of conflict."
Kubis expressed "his deepest sympathies with the families of those who lost their lives and wished the injured a speedy recovery," according to the statement.
The UN envoy urged the Iraqi authorities to "focus on combating the terrorists' sleeper cells to thwart any future attacks against civilians," the statement added.
On Sunday evening a booby-trapped car parking near a popular restaurant went off in downtown Tikrit, some 170 km north of the capital Baghdad, leaving three women and two men killed in the explosion, while several children were among the wounded, according to Mohammed al-Jubouri from Salahudin's provincial police.
The huge explosion destroyed part of the restaurant, as well as several nearby buildings and cars, Jubouri told Xinhua.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Islamic State (IS) militant group, in most cases, is behind such attacks targeting security forces and crowded places including markets, cafes and mosques.
The security situation in Iraq has been dramatically improved after Iraqi security forces fully defeated IS militants in late 2017.
However, IS remnants have since melted or regrouped in urban and rugged areas, carrying out attacks against security forces and civilians despite regular operations to hunt them down.
