ISIS thugs Friday killed 16 Real Madrid supporters at a café in northern Iraq, authorities have announced.
Three gunmen opened fire with machine guns at the cafe in the town of Balad as fans met to watch old matches of the Spanish club.
At least 20 people were injured.
An official announcement by the club reads:”Re al Madrid C. F. deeply regrets the terrible attack in Iraq which today saw 16 members of a Real Madrid supporters club lose their lives and which has also left over 20 injured.
“The club expresses its great sadness and offers its regards and condolences to the families and friends of the victims.
“Real Madrid extends all of its solidarity to the people of Iraq, who suffer the excessive injustices of extreme violence.
“The Real Madrid players will tomorrow wear symbolic black armbands as a sign of their mourning and respect. Football and sport shall always be spaces in which to come together and in which harmony and peace reign and with which no form of barbaric terrorism will be able to compete.
“Today Madridismo across the whole world cries for its supporters, who shall never be forgotten.”
President of the Madrid supporters club, Ziad Subhan, said: “A group of Islamic terrorists, from ISIS, came into the café, armed with AK-47s, shooting at random at everyone who was inside”.
When asked about the motive for the attack, the president said: “They don’t like football, they think it’s anti-Muslim. They just carry out attacks like this. This is a terrible tragedy.”
The latest incidents sum up a week of extreme sectarian violence, even by Iraqi standards, after over 90 people died in a series of bombings in capital Baghdad on Wednesday.
