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| The scene of a car bomb attack in Baghdad’s Sadr City, May 11 |
BAGHDAD — Three suicide bombings claimed by ISIS across Baghdad killed at least 80 people on Wednesday, Iraqi police and hospital sources said, in the deadliest attacks in the Iraqi capital this year.
Security has gradually improved in Baghdad, which was the target of daily bombings a decade ago, but violence against security forces and civilians is still frequent.
Wednesday’s bombings could also intensify pressure on Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to resolve a political crisis that has crippled the government for more than a month.
The first attack, a suicide car bomb at a bustling market in Sadr City, killed 55 people during morning rush hour and wounded 68.
Two more blasts struck at the end of the working day. A suicide bomber stormed a security checkpoint leading into Kadhimiya, a northwestern area housing one of the holiest sites in Shi’a Islam, killing 17 and wounding more than 30.
Another bomb went off at a checkpoint on a commercial thoroughfare in a predominantly Sunni district of western Baghdad, killing eight and wounding 20.
The attack in Sadr City was near a beauty salon. Many of the victims were women including several brides who appeared to be getting ready for their weddings.
The bodies of two men said to be grooms were found in an adjacent barber shop. Wigs, shoes and children’s toys were scattered on the ground outside. At least two cars were destroyed in the explosion, their parts scattered far from the blast site.
Rescue workers stepped through puddles of blood to put out fires and remove victims. Smoke was still rising from several shops hours after the explosion as a bulldozer cleared the burnt-out chassis of the vehicle used in the blast.
ISIS said in statements circulated online by supporters that a car bomb had aimed at militia fighters gathered in the area and two militants wearing explosive vests targeted security forces in the later attacks.
Pain
Iraqi American humanitarian Nidhal Garmo, who returned from an aid mission to Iraq in March, said she could not stop crying since watching the graphic images of the attacks.
“My heart aches for my people,” she said. “They are innocent. They are poor. They are just trying to live.”
Garmo warned against sectarian divisions in her homeland and the local Arab American community.
“The terrorists’ plan is to spread sectarianism,” she said. “They attack Shi’a; they attack Sunnis; they’re killing everybody. But they won’t succeed.”
During her visit to Iraq, Garmo travelled to the frontlines with Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in norther Iraq.
She said the country is in dire need of humanitarian aid. Garmo called on the U.S. government to step up efforts to help Iraqis.
Kamal Alsaedi, a local Iraqi American activist, said Iraqi expatriates feel agony and despair because of the bloodshed in Baghdad.
“We are crying blood from the intensity of our pain,” he said.
Alsaedi pointed the finger at Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey, accusing them of supporting extremists.
He urged the Iraqi government to shut down the embassy of “the trio of evil,” as he called them.
Alsaedi did not spare Iraqi politicians the criticism. He said they are corrupt and failing to safeguard the country.
-Reuters, The AANews
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