Baghdad- At least 24 civilians were killed on Saturday in a double suicide bombing claimed by the Islamic State extremist militia targeting a busy market in Baghdad.
Thirty-nine were injured in the attack at central Baghdad’s al-Sinak market, the city’s security services said in a statement. The bombing was carried out by two suicide bombers wearing explosive belts, according to Saad Maan, the spokesman for the government security agency.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement carried by its semi-official Amaq agency.
People gather at the site of an October 2016 suicide bomb attack in Baghdad, which has been hit by numerous explosions in the past year. Iraqi forces, backed by a US-led air alliance, are pressing ahead with a campaign to drive Islamic State extremist militia from their key stronghold of Mosul in northern Iraq. Image: Khalil Dawood/Xinhua via ZUMA Wire
The radical Sunni group said that two suicide bombers detonated their explosive belts amid a crowd of Shiites at the market. Islamic State regards Shiite Muslims as heretics.
Police said earlier that the attack was the result of two back-to-back bombs detonated at a market that sells car accessories and electrical equipment.
Thousands of people visit the al-Sinak market every day.
In a separate incident, security forces said on Saturday that they had foiled a suicide car bombing targeting the mostly Shiite district of Kadhimiyah in northern Baghdad.
“Acting on intelligence information, Iraqi forces in northern Baghdad tracked down a car bomb with two suicide bombers, who planned to detonate it in Kadhimiyah,” the Baghdad Security Operations said in a statement.
“The forces ambushed the car, blew it up and killed the two bombers inside,” the security forces said.
Iraqi forces, backed by a US-led air alliance, are pressing ahead with a campaign to drive Islamic State from its key stronghold of Mosul in northern Iraq.
Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, has been under Islamic State control since mid-2014.
– dpa
