Iraq: Shia militias take revenge on Sunnis after bomb attack kills 20

Shia militiamen conducted reprisal attacks against local Sunnis in Muqdadiya, Iraq, following a double bombing Monday that killed at least 20 people.

The blasts occurred in a cafe and mainly killed and injured militiamen with the Hashid Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization Forces, an Iran-trained Shia Muslim group fighting in Iraq against the Islamic State.

IS, which considers Shia Muslims heretics, reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack, which came the same day militants with the group attacked a shopping mall in a predominantly Shia area of Baghdad, killing 18 people.

A security source in nearby Baquba, the capital of Diyala province, told the BBC Shia militiamen rampaged through Muqdadiya following the twin bombings, summarily executing three Sunni men and blowing up seven houses in the al-Asiri district before setting fire to 36 shops in the main market and six Sunni mosques across the town.