Deadly suicide attack rocks central Baghdad, first in 3 years
Shock♍ing video captured the moment one of two men blew himself up in a Bag🦋hdad market Thursday – a twin suicide bombing that killed at least 32 people and wounded at least 110 in what Iraqi military officials said was the work of ISIS.
The rare suicide attack 🐲ripped through Tayaran Square in central Baghdad amid heightened political tensions over planned early electi𓆉ons and a severe economic crisis.
Pools of blood, shredded piles of clotꦉhes and shoes could be seen on the pavement of the busy clothing market after the twin blasts sent shockwaves throughout the capital city🍃.
“One (bomber) came, fell to the ground and started complaining ‘my stomach is hurting’ and he pressed the detonator in his hand. It exploded immediately. People were torn to pieces,” a street vendor told Reuters without giving his name.
The graphic footage, shot from a rooftop, purported to show the second blast scattering people gathered in the ar𓆉ea.
Terrifying Images shared online, ℱwhich Reuters could no🧸t independently verify, showed several dead and wounded.
Suicide attacks, once an almost daily occurrence in Baghdad, had ended in recent years since ISIS militants were defeated in 2017, part of an overall improvement in security that has brought normal life back to the capital.
“Daesh terrorist groups might be standing behind the attacks,” Civil Defense chief Maj. Gen. Kadhim Salman told reporters, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS.
Thursday’s explosions took place in the same market that was struck in the last big attac🎐k, in January 2018, when at least 27 people were killed shortly after then-Prime Miniꦡster Haidar al-Abadi declared victory over ISIS.
Maj. Gen. Tahsin al-Khafaji, spokesman for the Joint ꦰOperations Command, said the first suicide bomber cried that he was ill, prompting a crowd to gather around him before he detonated his explosive belt.
The second detonated his belt shortly afterℱ, he said.
“This is a terrorist act perpetrated by a sleeper cell of the Islamic State,” al-Khafaji said, adding that ISIS “wanted to prove its existence” after suffering many blows in military operations to root out the extremists.
Prime Minister Mus🐬tafa al-Kadhimi held an urg🤪ent meeting with top security commanders to discuss the attacks, his office said in a statement.
Security forces ♏were deployed and key roads blocked to prevent possible additional attacks.
Pope Francis, who is scheduled to visit Iraq in March, condemned the attack as a “senseless act of brutality.”
“In deploring this senseless act of brutality, he (the pope) prays for the deceased victims and their families, for the injured and for the emergency personnel in attendance,” said a message sent in his name to the Iraqi president.
The pope gave no indication whether the bombings would affect🌸 his planned trip.
With Post wires
