Car Bomb Blast Kills Several in Baghdad
BAGHDAD (Dispatches) – At least four people were killed and 20 wounded in a car bomb attack on Thursday in a neighborhood in Baghdad, Iraqi police and medical workers said.
The car was parked at a busy second-hand equipment market in the mainly Shia Muslim district, police said.
An Iraqi military statement said the blast had killed one civilian, wounded 12 others and set several vehicles on fire. A second statement by the military said only one person, the driver, had died. Medics in the neighborhood put the death toll at four.
Black smoke rose from the market place after the blast and ambulances rushed to save the wounded, Reuters witnesses said. Police cordoned off the site of the blast shortly afterwards.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. It was the second big deadly bombing to hit Baghdad this year after a bomb attack claimed by Daesh terrorists killed at least 32 people in a crowded market in January.
Large bomb attacks, once an almost daily occurrence in the Iraqi capital, have halted in recent years since Daesh terrorists were defeated in 2017, part of an overall improvement in security that has brought normal life back to Baghdad.
The January blast was the most deadly in three years.
Thursday’s attack comes during an election year, a time when tension between rival Iraqi political groups has often caused violence.
Iraqi President Barham Salih strongly condemned the car bomb explosion in Baghdad in a post published on his official Twitter account.
"The terrorist explosion against ordinary citizens in the al-Habibiya market of Baghdad, as we are in the holy month [of Ramadan], confirms the brazenness of terror groups and their desperate attempts to target our security and stability and push us back into dark days of the past,” he tweeted.
Salih added, "We stand firmly against such attempts. We must support and strengthen our heroic security service in its combat against terrorist cells.”
Earlier, a huge explosion targeted a convoy carrying missiles and other military equipment for the U.S. troops near the Ain al-Assad Airbase in western Iraq, one of the main outposts used by Washington in the Arab country.
Reports said the attack that used a "rather advanced bomb,” struck the convoy on the road leading to the airbase in Iraq’s Anbar Province.
The blast was reportedly so massive that led to some initial speculations that the military installation itself had been targeted.
An Iraqi group known as Ashab al-Kahf (Companions of the Cave) claimed the attack. The group has, over the past years, claimed many such operations against similar convoys.
The car was parked at a busy second-hand equipment market in the mainly Shia Muslim district, police said.
An Iraqi military statement said the blast had killed one civilian, wounded 12 others and set several vehicles on fire. A second statement by the military said only one person, the driver, had died. Medics in the neighborhood put the death toll at four.
Black smoke rose from the market place after the blast and ambulances rushed to save the wounded, Reuters witnesses said. Police cordoned off the site of the blast shortly afterwards.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. It was the second big deadly bombing to hit Baghdad this year after a bomb attack claimed by Daesh terrorists killed at least 32 people in a crowded market in January.
Large bomb attacks, once an almost daily occurrence in the Iraqi capital, have halted in recent years since Daesh terrorists were defeated in 2017, part of an overall improvement in security that has brought normal life back to Baghdad.
The January blast was the most deadly in three years.
Thursday’s attack comes during an election year, a time when tension between rival Iraqi political groups has often caused violence.
Iraqi President Barham Salih strongly condemned the car bomb explosion in Baghdad in a post published on his official Twitter account.
"The terrorist explosion against ordinary citizens in the al-Habibiya market of Baghdad, as we are in the holy month [of Ramadan], confirms the brazenness of terror groups and their desperate attempts to target our security and stability and push us back into dark days of the past,” he tweeted.
Salih added, "We stand firmly against such attempts. We must support and strengthen our heroic security service in its combat against terrorist cells.”
Earlier, a huge explosion targeted a convoy carrying missiles and other military equipment for the U.S. troops near the Ain al-Assad Airbase in western Iraq, one of the main outposts used by Washington in the Arab country.
Reports said the attack that used a "rather advanced bomb,” struck the convoy on the road leading to the airbase in Iraq’s Anbar Province.
The blast was reportedly so massive that led to some initial speculations that the military installation itself had been targeted.
An Iraqi group known as Ashab al-Kahf (Companions of the Cave) claimed the attack. The group has, over the past years, claimed many such operations against similar convoys.