The death toll in the Baghdad blasts in two crowded commercial areas has now reached 83 with 176 people injured, according to Iraq government. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi visited the site Sunday morning and appealed for the people to stay calm.
The bombings were carried out at the end of Muslim holy month of Ramzan when the entire streets were full of people and families were out after the sundown.
Anger erupted in the general public soon after the blast as video footages uploaded to the social media show an angry crowd at the blast site in the Karada district of the capital, with people shouting at the convoy and calling Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi a ‘thief’.
The Shiite-majority area, Karada where the initial car bomb attack took place, witnessed the killing of 18 people and another 50 getting injured. Shortly afterward, an improvised explosive device went off in eastern Baghdad, killing 5 people and wounding 16.
The responsibility of the blasts has been claimed by the Islamic State through a statement posted on a militant website. The statement said a suicide car bomber targeted Shiites and warned that “the raids of the mujahedeen (holy warriors) against the Rafidha (Shiites) apostates will not stop.”
.These attacks follow the capture of Fallujah city by Iraqi forces and their declaration of an “IS free Fallujah.” Over the past year, Iraqi forces have racked up territorial gains against IS, retaking the city of Ramadi and the towns of Hit and Rutba, all in Iraq’s vast Anbar province west of Baghdad. Despite the government’s battlefield victories, IS has repeatedly shown it remains capable of launching attacks far from the front-lines.
