MNA � Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Ghasemi expressed deep regret over a terrorist attack on a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims in the Iraqi city of Balad, which killed and wounded a number of them.

In a Monday statement, Ghasemi strongly condemned the brutal and inhumane attack, saying that the Iranian Foreign Ministry and the country�s embassy in Baghdad are seriously looking into the incident and pursuing the conditions of those wounded.

�The rejected and defeated terrorist groups in Iraq are still under the delusion that they are in existence,� official website of Foreign Ministry quoted him as saying.

�They wishfully think that they can damage the strong bonds and unity among the Iranian and Iraqi nations by committing such inhumane crimes, but they won�t achieve their inauspicious goals,� the spokesman highlighted.

�Such disasters will strengthen the two nations� resolve to fully eradicate the remnants of criminals,� he added.

A bus carrying Iranian pilgrims in the south of Iraq�s Saladin governorate was targeted by terrorists on Sunday night, martyring one Iranian and wounding eight others. The attack was carried out when the bus was moving from a shortcut road which was not provided with security by Iraqi forces.

IRIB says that terrorists have opened fire on the bus from inside marshes while some Iraqi media report that a bomb has been exploded on the side of the road.

No terrorist group has yet claimed responsibility of the attack, however, Iraq�s Popular Mobilization Forces has blamed ISIL for the brutal terror attack.