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IRAQ-BOMBING, NEWSERIES
Twin suicide blasts in Baghdad leave nearly 30 dead
BAGHDAD, Jan 21, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – A rare twin suicide bombing killed nearly
30 in central Baghdad on Thursday, Iraqi state media said, the deadliest
attack in the city in three years.
At least 28 people were killed and another 73 wounded in the attack on a
huge open-air market for second-hand clothes in the Iraqi capital’s Tayaran
Square.
The market had been teeming with people following nearly a year of
restrictions imposed across the country in a bid to halt the spread of Covid-
19.
According to an interior ministry statement, the first suicide bomber
rushed into the market, claiming to feel sick. Once a crowd of people had
gathered around him, he detonated his explosives.
As people then flocked around the victims, a second attacker detonated his
bomb, the ministry said.
An AFP photographer at the scene said security forces had cordoned off the
area, where blood-stained clothes were strewn about the muddy streets.
Paramedics were working to remove casualties, and Iraq’s health ministry
said it had mobilised medics across the capital.
Thursday’s attack was the bloodiest incident in Baghdad since January 2018,
when a suicide bomber also in Tayaran Square killed more than 30 people.
Suicide bombings had been commonplace in Baghdad during the sectarian
bloodletting that followed the US-led invasion of 2003.
Later on, as the Islamic State group swept across much of Iraq, its
jihadists also targeted the capital.
But with the group’s territorial defeat in late 2017, suicide bombings in
the city became rare.
Baghdad’s notorious concrete blast walls were dismantled and checkpoints
across the city removed.
– Bloody lead-up to vote –
Thursday’s attack comes as Iraqis prepare for an election, events which are
often preceded by bombings and assassinations.
The 2018 attack took place just a few months before Iraq’s last round of
parliamentary elections.
Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi had originally set this year’s general
election for June, nearly a year ahead of schedule, in response to widespread
protests in 2019.
But authorities are in talks over rescheduling them to October in order to
give electoral authorities more time to register voters and new parties.
Thursday’s twin attack was not immediately claimed but suicide bombings
have been used by ultra-conservative Islamist groups, most recently IS.
The jihadist factions seized a third of Iraq in 2014 and was dangerously
close to the capital, but a ferocious three-year fight by Iraqi troops pushed
them back.
Still, the group’s sleeper cells have continued to operate in desert and
mountain areas, typically targeting security forces or state infrastructure
with low casualty attacks.
Still, the US-led coalition that had been supporting Iraq’s campaign
against IS has significantly drawn down its troop levels over the past year,
citing the increased capabilities of Iraqi troops.
The United States, which provides the bulk of the force, has 2,500 troops
left in Iraq — down from 5,200 a year ago.
They are mainly in charge of training, providing drone surveillance and
carrying out air strikes while Iraqi security forces handle security in urban
areas.
BSS/AFP/IJ/1650 hrs