Suicide bomb teacher accidentally blew up his entire class
A suicide bomb instructor at a camp north of Baghdad was teaching a class of militants in training Monday when he accidentally detonated the vest he was building as a demonstration and blew up his entire class.
New York Times reports that the class consisted of Sunnis belonging to the group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS. ISIS has been waging a war of attrition against the Shiite-dominated Iraqi government, with sporadic suicide bombings and more coordinated efforts. The group stormed the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi early in 2014 and took control of certain areas by force, heavily armed. Local authorities have since wrested control back from ISIS.
NY Times reports that 22 ISIS students were killed and 15 wounded when the teacher accidentally detonated the bomb, a massive friendly fire explosion. Eight ISIS members were arrested attempting to flee the camp.
The U.S. has largely abandoned its military presence in Iraq but is said to be working with the Iraqi government on a strategy to quell the sectarian violence, including having other Sunni take the lead in trying to stop ISIS from carrying out more attacks.
The suicide bomb teacher was not named, but was identified by an Iraq Army officer as an influential recruiter who was “able to kill the bad guys for once.”