BAGHDAD, April 16 (Xinhua) -- A total of 17 Iraqi soldiers were wounded on Tuesday in a roadside bomb explosion in Iraq's central city of Fallujah, a military and a medical source said.
A roadside bomb was detonated near an Iraqi army convoy in al-Nuaimiya area in southern Fallujah, some 50 km west of the capital Baghdad, injuring 17 soldiers and damaging their vehicle, an Iraqi army source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
The source did not confirm whether the bomb was recently planted or left by the extremist Islamic State (IS) militants who were previously dislodged from Fallujah during the major offensives by the Iraqi forces.
A medical source from the Fallujah Hospital told Xinhua that 17 soldiers with different injuries were admitted to the hospital for treatment on Tuesday.
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, but the IS militant group, in most cases, is responsible for such attacks targeting security forces and areas where crowds of civilians gather, including markets, cafes and mosques.
The security situation in Iraq has been dramatically improved since security forces fully defeated the IS across the country late in 2017.
However, IS remnants have since melted in urban areas or resorted to deserts and rugged areas as safe havens, carrying out guerilla attacks from time to time against the security forces and civilians.
