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IS conflict: Car bombing at Baghdad market kills dozens | IS conflict: Car bombing at Baghdad market kills dozens |
(35 minutes later) | |
A car bomb at a crowded Baghdad market has killed at least 64 people, officials say, in one of the worst recent attacks in the Iraqi capital. | |
At least 87 others were wounded in the blast, in the Shia Muslim district of Sadr City during the morning rush hour. | |
So-called Islamic State (IS) said it had carried out the attack. | |
The Sunni Muslim group, which controls swathes of northern and western Iraq, has frequently targeted Shia, whom it considers heretics. | |
Battle for Iraq and Syria in maps | Battle for Iraq and Syria in maps |
Islamic State group: The full story | Islamic State group: The full story |
Many of the victims included women and children, Iraqi police and medical sources said. Several of the injured were said to be in critical condition. | |
The blast damaged nearby buildings and other vehicles. | |
In an online statement, IS said it targeted Shia militiamen. | |
An eyewitness told the Associated Press news agency that the car bomb was a pickup truck loaded with fruit and vegetables. | |
Its driver parked the vehicle and quickly disappeared among the crowd, he said. | |
"It was such a thunderous explosion that jolted the ground," Karim Salih, 45, told the news agency. | |
"The force of the explosion threw me for meters and I lost conscious for a few minutes," he added. | |
IS has frequently targeted commercial areas and government and security personnel, causing heavy casualties. | IS has frequently targeted commercial areas and government and security personnel, causing heavy casualties. |
Iraqi forces, backed by US-led coalition air strikes and Shia-dominated paramilitary forces, have regained some territory seized by IS in 2014, but have been unable to prevent bomb attacks in the capital. | Iraqi forces, backed by US-led coalition air strikes and Shia-dominated paramilitary forces, have regained some territory seized by IS in 2014, but have been unable to prevent bomb attacks in the capital. |
In February, Iraqi security forces began building a wall around Baghdad in an effort to prevent attacks, following a series of bombings which caused carnage. | |
Recent IS deadly bombings | |
March 2016: Suicide attack in a football match in the city of Iskandariya, in central Iraq, kills at least 32 people. Many of the dead were young boys who had been in a trophy ceremony. | |
March 2016: Fuel tanker is blown up at a checkpoint near Hilla, south of Baghdad, killing at least 47. | |
February 2016: Twin suicide bomb attack in a busy market in Sadr City kills at least 70. | |
August 2015: Truck bomb explodes at crowded market in Sadr City killing at least 67. | |
July 2015: Car bomb hits a busy market in the town of Khan Bani Saad killing 120. | |
IS control in Iraq and Syria | |
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