ISIS Bombs Baghdad, Kills at least 62 People

A massive truck bomb ripped through a popular Baghdad food market in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood early Thursday morning, killing at least 67 people, police officials said. The attack also wounded 125 people.

In its assertion of responsibility, the Islamic State described Sadr City as one of the “strongholds” of the Shiite militias it is fighting, and warned of more attacks to follow.

Iraq is now embroiled in a battle with Islamic State militants who have seized wide swaths of the country and displaced more than 3 million people. Last month, a truck laden with explosives killed at least 120 people in an outdoor market in Khan Bani Saad, a town some 32 kilometers (20 miles) north of Baghdad. “I saw some cars thrown into the sky and a fire erupted all over the place”.

A refrigerator truck was blown up at the Jamela market, the city’s largest wholesale vegetable market at around 6:30am local time, among the busiest times with people shopping for the weekend. ISIS, which has targeted areas not far from the Iraqi capital, claimed responsibility for the Baquba bombing.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered an overhaul of the judiciary as thousands of Iraqis celebrated his anticorruption drive in the streets and the nation’s top cleric said the court system should be the next target.

The Sunni militant group, which roughly holds a third of Iraq and neighboring Syria in their self-declared “caliphate”, views Shiite Muslims, as well as other religious minorities, as apostates.

On Thursday, Baghdad, Iraq was hit by a deadly explosion that killed dozens near a market. The terror group has been escalating its attacks lately, but this marks one of the worst in Baghdad, NPR reported.

Committee chairman and MP Hakim al-Zamili, once a leading member of Mahdi Army leader Muqtada al-Sadr’s now-disbanded political party, reiterated demands for a security review and for improving the country’s intelligence services. The Islamic State also asserted that it carried out a suicide vehicle bombing Monday in Baqubah, about 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, that killed more than 30 people.

“Following these regular attacks on civilians we encourage all Iraqis to resist and oppose attempts to sow hatred and division in the country”. Jets taking off from Turkey have not yet joined the operation.

The US military, which withdrew from Iraq in 2011, has resumed training Iraqi forces and select Syrian rebels as part of a renewed effort to contain and eventually roll back ISIS.

Security forces and militia groups are now focused on routing the insurgents from the Anbar, the sprawling Sunni heartland in western Iraq.