Civilians help a municipality bulldozer clean up while citizens inspect the scene after a vehicle bomb explosion at a crowded outdoor market in the Iraqi capital’s eastern district of Sadr City, Iraq, Wednesday, May 11, 2016.
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Several hours later, another suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden auto at the crowded square of Adan at the entrance of the holy Shiite district of Kadhmiyah in northern Baghdad, leaving at least 17 people dead and 43 others wounded as many Shiite pilgrims were visiting a holy mosque in Kadhmiyah district.
Another targeted the predominately Sunni Jamea district of western Baghdad, killing at least eight and injuring 21 more, an interior ministry official and medics told AFP.
The fragile political process reached a deadlock after thousands of people broke into the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad.
Meanwhile, a report said ISIL buried 35 of its fighters alive after they fled the battlefield in northern Iraq on May 1.
A months-old political crisis in Iraq has led to repeated mass demonstrations and has hampered the functioning of the government at a time when the country is battling IS jihadists on several fronts.
Sunni Muslim militant violence against security forces and Shi’ite Muslim civilians has persisted since Baghdad became the target of nearly daily bombings a decade ago following the US -led invasion in 2003 that toppled Saddam Hussein. An additional 87 people were wounded in the attack in the largely Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City.
ISIS and ISIL are acronyms often used to refer to the Islamic State group.
The Sunni jihadist Islamic State group, which has claimed the attacks, controls large swathes of northern and western Iraq. The central government has been teetering on the edge of collapse since Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi tried to stem corruption with a drastic overhaul of his Cabinet.
While Security has improved in the Iraqi capital – which just ten years ago was dealing with destructive bombings daily – violence against Shiite Muslim civilians and security forces is still frequent. Dozens of people walked through mangled wreckage of cars and other debris as ambulances ferried away the injured.
Iraq’s armed forces are engaged in preliminary operations to retake Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, from Islamic State control and clear the Euphrates River Valley, where Iraq’s military expelled the militants from the city of Ramadi.
Months of protests and sit-ins led by influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have demanded the overhaul of the political system put in place by the United States following the 2003 overthrow of Saddam Hussein.
“My heart aches for my people”, she said.
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Many victims were women inside a beauty salon, including several brides who appeared to be getting ready for their weddings, police sources told Reuters news agency.
