Putin Offers Condolences to Iraqi President Over ISIL Terror Attack in Iraq

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia reaffirms continued support and solidarity with the Iraqi people, who have been leading a long and hard battle against extremist forces.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russian President Vladimir Putin issued condolences to his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Masum and Prime Minister Haider Abadi on Friday’s terror attack in eastern Iraq, according to Kremlin's statement published Saturday.

On Friday, a car with about three tons of explosives killed 120 people and injured some 130 at a busy market in an Iraqi town Khan Bani Saad, north of the capital Baghdad, ahead of this weekend’s end of Ramadan celebration.

"Accept my most sincere condolences on the brutal terror act carried out near the capital of Iraq. Dozens of civilians became victims of the Islamic State terrorists that slipped in Khan Bani Saad. We reaffirm our continued support and solidarity with the Iraqi people, who have been leading a long and hard battle against extremist forces," Putin said in a release published on Kremlin’s official website.

The Islamic State (ISIL), a radical Sunni group infamous for multiple atrocities, mass killings and destructions of shrines, operates on territories it has occupied across Iraq and Syria.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, some 6,000 people have been killed in fighting and terror attacks in the Middle East and Africa during this year's Ramadan, a religious holy month when all military action between Muslims is forbidden.