ISIS Bombs Baghdad, over 50 killed

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.

Islamic State militants quickly claimed responsibility for all three violent attacks, the deadliest in Baghdad this year so far.

The Iraqi army is battling the IS in the country’s western and northern regions, vowing to retake Mosul, the second largest city, by the end of this year. “The state is in a conflict over (government positions) and the people are the victims”, said a man named Abu Ali, adding: “The politicians are behind the explosion”.

Hundreds of residents of a neighbourhood of the Iraqi capital rocked by a devastating bombing that killed dozens of people held a protest Thursday, blaming the government for the carnage.

The Shiite militias officially operate under the direct command of the prime minister through an umbrella group known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, but command and control remains decentralized. In its online statement, IS said it targeted a gathering of Shiite militiamen.

Lawmakers balking at ceding vested interests targeted by Abadi have failed to convene parliament since protesters loyal to powerful Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, a vocal advocate of dismantling Iraq’s quota-based governing system, breached the heavily-fortified Green Zone district two weeks ago and took over the assembly complex for several hours.

Later Wednesday, a suicide bomber detonated in a busy square in the Shiite neighborhood of al-Kadhimiya in Baghdad, killing 17 people, and a suicide vehicle bomber exploded at a checkpoint manned by Shiites in the Sunni neighborhood of al-Jamia, killing 12. An additional 87 people were wounded in the attack in the largely Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City. He suffered no injuries, but two of his workers were wounded.

Two days later, a auto bombing targeting Shia pilgrims commemorating the death anniversary of a revered 8th-century imam killed at least 18 people. “It pains us to see the continuing bloodletting and loss of life, particularly among civilians who are paying a high price as a result of bombings and the armed clashes”, Jan Kubi, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq, said in a press release announcing the latest statistics. Nor are there any indications from the Iraqis that they intend to reposition forces now fighting ISIS back to Baghdad. Many members of security forces were also among those killed and injured, sources told AFP.

At least 77 people were killed, according to health officials.

But the jihadists have retained their ability to strike in the heart of Baghdad and other government-held areas with bomb attacks. The incident raised fears that the Islamic State would capitalize on the unrest by launching attacks on the capital.

Sectarian tensions also threaten to undermine efforts to dislodge ISIL from vast areas of the north and west of Iraq that they seized in 2014.