ISIL Claims German National Behind Iraq Suicide Bombing

A German national carried out Monday’s a suicide bombing against Iraqi security forces, the Islamic State group said in a statement posted on jihadist forums.

"Our brother Abu Mohammed al-Almani advanced in a booby-trapped vehicle carrying 1.5 tons of explosives on a gathering of the Safavid army west of the city of Baiji," it said, The Local reported.

Dozens of government soldiers were killed and injured in the blast and two Hummers and a bulldozer were burned, the statement read.

ISIL controls Baiji, about 200 kilometers north of Baghdad, but a major oil refinery just north of it has been the site of one of the 11-month-old Iraqi conflict's most relentless battles.

Dozens of Germans have died fighting for ISIL in Syria and Iraq, several of them in suicide operations.

According to EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova, an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 Europeans are currently fighting jihadist groups in Syria.