A roadside bomb attack targeted a Baghdad suburb on Monday, killing at least 20 people and wounding 35 others, Iraqi security officials said.
The attack took place in a busy market of Sadr City, the officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. It happened a day before the Eid al-Adha holiday when the market is busy with shoppers.“A terror attack using a locally-made IED [improvised explosive device] in Woheilat Market in Sadr City, in east Baghdad, left several victims dead and others injured,” Iraq’s interior ministry said in a statement.
Women and children were among the dead and some shops burned down as a result of the explosion.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the armed group ISIL (ISIS) has claimed similar attacks in the area before.
It was the third time this year that a bomb hit a market in the densely populated neighbourhood. In April, at least four people were killed in a car bomb attack in Sadr City. That blast was caused by an explosive device attached to a parked car at the market.
Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi placed the commander of the federal police regiment responsible for the area of the market place under arrest, according to an Iraqi military statement. It also said an investigation was launched.
Large bomb attacks, once an almost daily occurrence in Baghdad, have slowed in recent years since ISIL was defeated on the battlefield in 2017.
Attacks persist, however. In January, more than 30 people were killed in a twin suicide bombing in a busy commercial area in central Baghdad. It was the deadliest bombing in three years to strike Iraq’s capital.
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