ISIS claims Baghdad bomb attack on U.N. convoy

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) jihadist group on Monday claimed responsibility for a suicide car bomb attack against a U.N. convoy near Baghdad airport.

“Our brother Abu Muawiya al-Falluji rammed a convoy for the ‘United Nations waging war against Muslims’ surrounded by heavy U.S. protection,” the group said in a statement.

The name given for the suicide attacker suggests he was an Iraqi from the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, which lies around 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of Baghdad.

In its statement, ISIS claimed Sunday’s attack had left many dead and alleged the Iraqi government had taken away the bodies of U.S. personnel.

“The convoy was strictly a U.N. convoy, there was nobody who isn’t U.N. staff,” a press officer for the U.N. mission in Iraq said.

The world body’s top envoy in Iraq said on Sunday that no U.N. staff member was wounded in the blast.

A police officer said three people were injured.

The U.N. press officer said the attack was the first in a long time against the United Nations, which pulled out of Iraq for several years after a devastating bombing against its Baghdad headquarters in August 2003.