The ISIS attack, according to media reports, ripped through an outdoor market area in Baghdad’s Sadr City, a crowded, predominantly Shia neighborhood full of civilians, killing at least 63 people and wounding many more.
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Funerals were underway Thursday for many of those who were killed in Wednesday’s bombings, which included a vehicle bomb that struck a crowded outdoor market selling food, clothing and household goods in the predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City. They also were a stark reminder that the group is still able to launch devastating attacks in the capital, despite setbacks on the battlefield elsewhere.
Our correspondent says the bombings come in the midst of an acute political crisis in Baghdad, with parliament unable to meet and the government effectively paralysed by factional disputes.
The deadliest blast on Wednesday took place in a crowded market in the eastern Sadr City district. The shopping venue is one of the main four in Sadr City, which has a population of 2.5 million, nearly half of Baghdad’s population.
Islamic State extremists still control significant areas in northern and western Iraq, including the second-largest city of Mosul.
The ground near the explosion was littered with children’s toys, shoes, and wigs, Reuters reported, and at least two cars were destroyed in the bombing. Explosives hidden in a parked pickup truck loaded with fruit and vegetables detonated around 10am, killing at least 66 people and wounding 87 others.
By comparison, 35 people were killed in the ISIS bombings in Brussels, Belgium in March, the deadliest terrorist attack that city has ever seen.
Salih was not injured, but two of his workers were wounded.
“The force of the explosion threw me metres away and I lost consciousness for a few minutes”. It was one of three suicide bombings that day which reportedly killed 93 people total in Iraq’s capital city.
The Sunni terror group ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement, saying that 20 police officers had died. “I don’t think we can reach a result, the decision will be in the hands of the people”, she added.
According to reports, the city is now going through a political crisis, with parliament unable to meet due to factional disputes, with United Nations envoy to Iraq Jan Kubis warning as far back as last Friday that the political impasse was only serving the interests of IS.
On April 30, Sadr supporters who had been protesting for weeks to demand a cabinet reshuffle and reforms broke into the fortified Green Zone and stormed parliament.
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Numerous victims were women including several brides who appeared to be getting ready for their weddings, sources said. These killed 1,885 people in the first four months of this year, according to the UN.
