A suicide bomber killed at least 35 people and wounded dozens in a crowded market in the Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad on Monday, the eve of the Eid al-Adha festival, security and hospital sources said.
More than 60 people were wounded, a police source said.
On Telegram, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the group’s Nasheer news agency. It said that one of its militants blew up his explosive vest among the crowds.
Hospital sources said the death toll could rise as some of the wounded were in critical condition.
The premier’s office said in a brief statement that Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi held an emergency meeting with top security commanders to discuss the attack.
President Barham Salih posted a tweet saying: “With an awful crime they target civilians in Sadr city on the eve of Eid … We will not rest before terrorism is cut off by its roots.”
The Sunni Muslim militant group Islamic State claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack on a market in Sadr City, Baghdad’s main Shiite Muslim district, in April, in which four people were killed and 20 were injured.
Islamic State also claimed responsibility for a bomb attack last January that killed more than 30 in the crowded Tayaran Square market in central Baghdad – Iraq’s first big suicide bombing for three years.
Large bomb attacks in Iraq were once almost daily, but have decreased since the Islamic State’s invasion of northern and western Iraq was defeated in 2017.
The Kaaba receives a new Kiswa to commemorate Eid al-Adha
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