The Islamic State (IS) militant group on Thursday claimed the responsibility for the massive suicide bomb attack that killed two senior army commanders in Iraq's western province of Anbar, the group said in an online statement.
The extremist group gave different account about the attack, saying that it was carried out by four of its suicide bombers driving explosive-laden vehicles and two supporting militants with heavy machine guns who targeted the main headquarters of the provincial operations command in north of Ramadi, the statement said.
All of its six militants were killed along with killing dozens of officers and soldiers, including Staff Major General Abdul-Rahaman Abu Raghif, deputy commander of Anbar provincial Operations Command, and Staff Brig. Gen. Sefien Abdul-Majid, commander of the Army's Tenth Division, said the group which the authenticity of its statement could not be independently verified.
The statement gave the names of the IS attackers, whom their names showed that they are from Tunisia, Gaza Strip, Tajikistan, Germany, Saudi Arab and Syria.
Earlier in the day, a statement by the army's joint operations command said the two commanders and unspecified number of officers and soldiers were killed and wounded when a suicide bomber detonated his car bomb near their vehicles during a military operation as the troops were advancing towards Ramadi.
Iraqi security forces and allied Hashd Shaabi paramilitary militias have been fighting for months to retake control of key cities and towns in the largest province from IS militants, which seized most of Anbar and tried to advance toward Baghdad.