Baghdad suicide car bomb blast kills at least 32
Many of the victims were daily laborers waiting for jobs in Sadr City, a Shiite neighborhood in Iraqi captial
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A suicide car bomb attack in a densely populated neighborhood of Baghdad Monday killed at least 32 people and left dozens wounded, police and hospital officials said.
Many of the victims were daily laborers waiting for jobs at an intersection in Sadr City, a sprawling majority Shiite neighborhood in the northeast of the capital that has been repeatedly targeted.
Pictures posted on social media shortly after the explosion showed a huge plume of black smoke billowing into the sky and seriously injured people being evacuated.
According to a police colonel, at least 61 people were wounded in the blast, the second major attack in Baghdad in three days.
Blast in Baghdad's Sadr City kills at least 10 -police, medics@baghdadcity2#Sadr#kurdishhttps://t.co/08MbUQUbyP pic.twitter.com/HGX4SNxcwZ
— United News of India (@uniindianews) January 2, 2017
The bombing came as French President Francois Hollande visited Iraq for talks with leaders and to meet with members of French forces supporting the US-led coalition against the Islamic State.
At least 27 people were killed by twin explosions in a busy market area in central Baghdad on Saturday, in what was the deadliest such attack in the Iraqi capital in two months.
There was no immediate claim for Monday’s suicide blast, but the Islamic State jihadist group has claimed all such attacks recently, including the double bombing on New Year’s Eve.
The caliphate IS proclaimed in 2014 is shrinking steadily and jihadist fighters are defending Mosul, their last major urban stronghold in Iraq.
Observers have voiced fears that the group, once it definitively loses its status as a land-holding force, could increasingly revert to targeting civilians in Iraq’s cities.
The Times of Israel Community.