Police and medics say that more than 93 people have been killed in three car bomb attacks in the Iraqi capital Baghdad.The deadliest killed 64 people and wounded 87 in a market in the mainly Shia Muslim area of Sadr City.
Later, two suicide bombers targeted police checkpoints in the northern district of Kadhimiya, and in Jamia, in the west, leaving 29 dead.The so-called Islamic State (IS) group claimed the attacks that have seen the worst day of violence in Baghdad so far this year.
The Sunni jihadist group, which controls large swathes of northern and western Iraq, has frequently targeted Shia Muslims, whom it considers apostates.The target of Wednesday’s first bombing was the busy market in Sadr City.Police and witnesses said the explosives were hidden under fruit and vegetables loaded on a pick-up trick.
They said the driver disappeared after parking the vehicle in the market, shortly before the massive blast turned the area into an inferno.”It was such a thunderous explosion that jolted the ground,” Karim Salih, a 45-year old grocer said.
“The force of the explosion threw me for meters away and I lost consciousness for a few minutes.”Many victims were women inside a beauty salon, including several brides who appeared to be getting ready for their weddings, police sources reported.The bodies of two men believed to be grooms were found in an adjacent barber shop, they added.