TEHRAN (Press Shia) – Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi strongly condemned the Daesh (ISIS or ISIL) terrorist attacks in southern Iraq that led to the killing of at least 66 people and injuring of dozens more.

In a statement issued late on Thursday, Qassemi also offered his condolences to the Iraqi people and government as well as the bereaved families of the victims of “the savage crime”.

He further expressed deep sorrow over the martyrdom and injuries of several Iranian pilgrims in the terrorist attacks, saying that relevant organizations, including the Iranian embassy in Baghdad, are pursuing the issue and examining the details to find the identities of the martyrs and the injured.

According to a statement released by Iraq’s Dhi-Qar Police headquarters, sixty-six people were killed and 97 others were wounded when Daesh militants carried out a coordinated attack targeting a security checkpoint and a restaurant in the south of Iraq on Thursday.

Daesh claimed responsibility, saying it targeted Shiites in the outskirts of Nasiriya city in the south of Iraq, according to a Daesh statement circulating on Daesh telegram channels.

An armed attack on a restaurant was followed by a car bomb and a suicide bomber at a nearby checkpoint, the police statement said.

Security officials foiled a Daesh attack on a second restaurant nearby, but several security officials were killed and wounded in the exchange of fire, according to CNN.

Iraqi security officials killed six of the attackers, the statement added.