NEWS

IS conflict: Dozens killed in Baghdad car bombings

People gather at the scene of a car bomb attack in Baghdad's mainly Shia district of Sadr CityAt least 82 people have been killed in three car bomb attacks in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, police and medics say.
The deadliest struck a market in the mainly Shia district of Sadr City during the morning rush hour, killing 64 people and wounding 87 others.
Two blasts in the afternoon in the northern area of Kadhimiya and in Jamia, in the west, left 18 dead.
It is not yet clear who was behind the later attacks, but so-called Islamic State claimed it was behind the first.
The Sunni Muslim jihadist group, which controls large swathes of northern and western Iraq, has frequently targeted Shia Muslims, whom it considers heretics.
Many of the victims in the Sadr City attack were children and women, including brides who appeared to be getting ready for their weddings at a beauty salon, Iraqi police and medical sources said.
Pictures showed vehicles and the facades of several buildings heavily damaged.
An eyewitness told the Associated Press that the bomb was in a pickup truck loaded with fruit and vegetables. Its driver parked the vehicle and quickly disappeared among the crowd, he said.People gather at the scene of a car bomb attack in Baghdad's mainly Shia district of Sadr City"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 metres and I lost consciousness for a few minutes."
Hours later, a suicide car bomb exploded outside a police station in Kadhimiya, a mostly Shia district that is the location of an important shrine, officials said.
Both police officers and civilians were among the dead.
At around the same time, another suicide car bomb reportedly targeted a commercial street in the Jamia district, which is predominantly Sunni.

Angry reaction

In the aftermath of the first bombing, angry survivors blamed the politicians for failing to protect them and ensure security, reports the BBC's Jim Muir in northern Iraq.Map of Baghdad showing locations of Sadr City, Jamia and KadhimiyaThe bombing comes in the midst of an acute political crisis in Baghdad, with parliament unable to meet and the government effectively paralysed by factional disputes, he notes.
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.
In February, Iraqi security forces began building a wall around Baghdad in an attempt to halt the group's attacks.
The UN says 1,885 civilians were killed by violence in Iraq in the first four months of this year.

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