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News > Iraq

Iraq: Double Explosion Leaves 28 Dead, 73 Injured in Baghdad

  • A candlelight vigil at the site of terrorist attack in Baghdad on Thursday night.

    A candlelight vigil at the site of terrorist attack in Baghdad on Thursday night. | Photo: Twitter/@IraqiJedi

Published 21 January 2021
Opinion

Baghdad had not been the victim of suicide attacks in public spaces, which became frequent after the U.S. invasion in 2003, for more than a year.

According to the Iraqi Interior Ministry, the explosions were a terrorist attack, in which the perpetrators were also killed.

According to the Iraqi Interior Ministry, at least 28 people were killed, and 73 others were injured Thursday in a suicide attack in Baghdad's central Al Tayaran square, where two explosions were recorded.

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Iraqi state television, which quotes the Interior Ministry, reported that the death toll rose to 28 and the number of wounded to 73, in what was described by the authorities as a "suicide terrorist attack."

The Iraqi Interior Ministry reported that the explosions were caused by two attackers, who blew themselves up in a popular second-hand clothing market in Al Tayaran Square, where two explosions occurred, one after the other.

Both were carrying "an explosive belt, and a homemade device," which they detonated in the same market, and some of the wounded are in critical condition, so the death toll could rise.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi army spokesman, Yahia Rasul, said in a brief statement via Twitter that what happened on Thursday is an "attack perpetrated by two suicide bombers who blew themselves up when security forces were chasing them" in the Bab al-Sharqi area, in the center of the capital.

For its part, the Iraqi Ministry of Health said that security forces applied strict measures on the area's perimeter. At the same time, ambulances transferred the victims to nearby hospitals.

The attack was condemned by Iraqi President Barham Saleh, who wrote on Twitter that the authorities are "firmly standing up to these attempts to destabilize the country" and attributed responsibility for the attack to "shadowy groups."

After the U.S. invasion of the country in 2003, Iraqi resistance forces carried out similar attacks at various times. A decade ago, the self-styled Islamic State's presence, which has used the same procedure, added to this.

The last suicide attack in the capital was in May 2019, when eight people were killed and 15 injured after a suicide bomber blew up his belt in another popular market in Sadr City, in the east of Baghdad and whose population is mostly Shiite.

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