The Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS) has claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attack on the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) headquarters in Iraq’s eastern province of Diyala.

The twin blasts resulted in the death of seventeen people and the injury of over 60 others.

“This is an act of revenge after a group of Kurdish Muslim girls were arrested in Khanaqin and we have succeeded,” read a statement published by the group on their website.

Violence is running at its highest levels since 2006-2007, when tens of thousands were killed in sectarian conflict between Iraq’s Shiite majority and Sunni Arab minority.

According to United Nation statistics more than 4,500 people have been killed this year in Iraq as a result of violence.