Da’ish bomber butchers 120 in Baghdad

BAGHDAD: A suicide car bombing claimed by the Islamic State group ripped through a busy Baghdad shopping district Sunday, killing nearly 120 people in the deadliest attack this year in Iraq’s capital.

The blast hit the Karrada district early in the day as the area was packed with shoppers ahead of this week’s holiday marking the end of Ramazan. It came a week after Iraqi security forces recaptured Falluja from IS, leaving Mosul as the only Iraqi city under the group’s control.



The bombing also wounded more than 180 people, security officials said.

Prime Minister Haider al Abadi visited the site of the attack and vowed ‘punishment’ for its perpetrators, his office said. Abadi’s office later announced three days of mourning for the victims.

The blast set buildings ablaze, and firemen were still working to extinguish them some 12 hours later. Men carried the bodies of two victims

out of one burned building and a crowd of people looked on from the rubble-filled street as firefighters worked at the site.

Hussein Ali, a 24-year-old former soldier, said six workers at his family’s shop were killed in the attack, their bodies so badly burned they could not be identified. “I will return to the battlefront. At least there, I know the enemy so I can fight him. But here, I don’t know who I’m fighting,” Ali told AFP.



IS issued a statement claiming responsibility for the suicide bombing, saying it was carried out by an Iraqi as part of the group’s ‘ongoing security operations’.

UN Iraq envoy Jan Kubis condemned the “cowardly and heinous act of unparallelled proportions,” calling on authorities to bring those responsible to justice.

Officials said another explosion in the Shaab area of northern Baghdad killed at least one person and wounded four on Sunday, but the cause of the blast was disputed. US National Security Council spokesperson Ned Price said the attacks “only strengthen our resolve to support Iraqi security forces as they continue to take back territory” from IS.

Bombings in the capital have decreased since IS overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in June 2014, with the militants apparently occupied with operations elsewhere. But the group has struck back against Iraqi civilians after suffering military setbacks.



A video posted on social media showed men, apparently angry at the government’s failure to prevent the carnage in Karrada, throwing rocks towards what was said to be Abadi’s convoy. A bystander could also be heard cursing at Abadi in another video.

But the premier struck a conciliatory tone over anger directed towards him. “I understand the emotional feelings and actions that occurred in a moment of sadness and anger,” Abadi said in a statement. In May, Baghdad was rocked by a series of blasts that killed more than 150 people in seven days. With thousands of vehicles moving in and out of the city each day, such bombings are difficult to prevent.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 4^th, 2016.