Powerful Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ordered his militia, the Peace Brigades, to deploy near the mausoleum, which is located in Balad, 93 kilometres north of Baghdad.
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The Baghdad bombing was one of the deadliest attacks since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the deadliest single attack claimed by the Islamic State group worldwide.
“Once again the Daesh terrorists strike with deadly results, leaving many casualties among innocent people celebrating the Eid-ul-Fitr at the shrine and surrounding area”, Kubis said. Two of the bombers detonated explosives near the front gate and the third rushed into the shrine, throwing hand grenades.
The IS has claimed responsibility for the attack, saying three of its suicide bombers, including a female, attacked the shrine and killed dozens of Shias.
A second bomber entered the shrine with nine gunmen, targeting security forces and civilians inside.
Al Arabiya TV reported that Iraqi security forces moved in to neutralize the attackers.
Iraqi prime minister Haider al-Abadi later fired the commander of Baghdad’s security operations as the embattled PM faces growing anger and protests over the lack of security in the capital.
The Baghdad killings were claimed by the Islamic State group.
More than 70 people were injured in the attack and some of the injured were in critical condition.
The Iraqi parliament is also set to summon the interior minister for questioning on the capital’s failing security and to answer for the Karrada bombing, Shakhawan Abdullah, head of the defense and security committee told Rudaw. The prime minister described the attacks as the militants’ response to Iraq’s “great victory in Fallujah, which stunned the world”, according to a statement released by his office.
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In 2006, the bombing of the Askariya Shrine in Samarra, where Imam Ali al-Hadi and Imam Hassan al-Askari, the father and brother of Sayyid Muhammad bin Ali al-Hadi, are said to be buried, touched off years of sectarian bloodshed.
