Islam Times - Iraq Takfiri militants ambush Shia cleric convoy

Islam Times - Takfiri militants in Iraq have attacked the convoy of a senior Shia cleric near the capital Baghdad, killing eight of his guards.

Sheikh Sami al-Massudi said on Saturday that his convoy came under attack near Ishaqi, located in the north of the capital.

The attack sparked clashes, which took hours to end and injured 10 other bodyguards as well.

Massudi said the convoy was on its way to the holy city of Samarra, “but we were surprised by a fierce battle near Ishaqi," recently retaken from militants.

The militants, who were hiding in farmland next to the road, launched an attack against the convoy with machineguns and sniper rifles, Massudi said, adding that the clashes continued from morning into the afternoon.

“I cannot say if I was the target," Massudi stated.

On June 10, the militants of the al-Qaeda splinter Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) took control of Nineveh provincial capital Mosul, in a lightning advance, which followed the fall of Tikrit, located 140 kilometers (87 miles) northwest of the capital Baghdad.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced out of their homes since the time.

The ISIL militants have vowed to continue their raid towards the capital Baghdad. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has said that the country’s security forces would confront the terrorists, calling Mosul seizure a “conspiracy."