SEVEN people died in the Iraqi capital Baghdad yesterday when a suspected Islamic State (Isis) suicide bomber attacked a tent serving refreshments to pilgrims.

Two police officers were among the dead in the eastern al-Shaab district, where Shi’ite Muslims had gathered to mark the month of Muharrem, commemorating the death of the third imam Hussein ibn Ali.

Parliamentary security and defence committee chairman Hakem al-Zamli told the Turkish Andalou news agency on Friday that his government had approved Russian airstrikes on Isis convoys entering the country from Syria — including on Iraqi soil.

This flew in the face of claims by US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Joseph Dunford last week that Iraq would not ask Russia for help against Isis, despite close security co-ordination between the two countries and Syria and Iran.