MADRID (Sputnik) – Daesh terrorist group fighters killed 16 people in armed and bomb attacks on a fan club of Spain’s Real Madrid football club in the Shiite Iraqi city of Balam, the Spanish press reported Friday.
Three gunmen opened fire inside a cafe that housed the football club’s fan association, killing 16 and wounding 20 people late on Thursday, the El Pais daily said. The newspaper quoted the fan club’s Facebook post condemning the "cowardly terrorist act."
One of the assailants who managed to flee detonated a suicide vest during an arrest attempt, according to the publication.
Head of Spain’s LFP national league Javier Tebas expressed shock with the attack via Twitter, saying that the league postponed a planned trip to Iraq.
Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad, houses the Iraqi air force base that has been handed back by the US military in 2011.
