ISIS claims deadly Iraq attack only days after Trump says group has been defeated

It was the first attack in Tal Afar since Iraqi forces retook the city from ISIS last year

(FILES) In this file photo taken on June 30, 2017, members of the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) with a flag of the Islamic State held upside-down, outside the destroyed Al-Nuri Mosque in the Old City of Mosul, after the area was retaken from IS. Even as the last pockets of resistance in eastern Syria hold their ground, the Islamic State group is shapeshifting into a new, but no less dangerous, underground form, experts warn. Also known as ISIS, or the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, it had long been ready to cede the territory it once held in its self-styled "caliphate," and has already begun the switch to a more clandestine role, closer to its roots. / AFP / FADEL SENNA / TO GO WITH AFP STORY by Michel MOUTOT, "Islamic State not defeated, just transforming, experts say"

Members of the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) with a ISIS flag held upside-down, outside the destroyed Al-Nuri Mosque in the Old City of Mosul. AFP

AFP

Dec 25, 2018

ISIS on Tuesday claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack that rocked the former militant stronghold of Tal Afar in northern Iraq and killed two people.

"A car bomb exploded near a cafe in the Ras al-Jadah district in the centre of Tal Afar," said Abed Alaal Abbas, an official in the city some 70 kilometres (40 miles) west of Mosul.

The blast "killed two and wounded 11 other civilians", he told AFP.

Iraq's joint operations command confirmed the toll.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack on the Telegram messaging application, saying the blast killed three.

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[ Veteran diplomat Brett McGurk resigns as US envoy to anti-ISIS coalition ]

[ Extremism must not be allowed to take hold again in the region ]

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It was the first attack in Tal Afar since Iraqi forces retook the city from ISIS in August last year.

The recapture of the city, which lies between Mosul and the Syrian border, was hailed as a major victory against militants, who seized nearly one third of Iraq in a sweeping 2014 offensive.

Last week, US President Donald Trump announced a total withdrawal of US troops from Syria, declaring that Washington had succeeded in defeating ISIS and were no longer needed.

The announcement drew criticism from allies such as France and Britain who say the insurgents have not been fully beaten.