Iraq: 20 killed by improvised explosive device in Sadr City

Twenty people were killed by explosion improvised mechanism on the market in Sandr City, its densely populated and impoverished eastern district Baghdad, a Shiite stronghold, today, Monday, according to police and hospital sources quoted by Reuters and AFP.

In thirty five are the injured, according to the same sources, as broadcast by APE BPE.

“It’s about terrorist attack “and there are many victims,” ​​the interior ministry said in a statement. A senior security official initially spoke of 10 dead in the blast, which sparked panic in al-Wahilat market.

Among the dead are four children and four women, added a source in the Ministry of Interior.

The attack, for which no responsibility has been taken yet, is noted on the eve of the Muslim Feast of Sacrifice.

Videos posted on social media show panic scenes in the market, women and children running screaming. Several members of the security forces have been sent to the scene and the injured are being taken to hospital.

Research is being carried out by the Baghdad Security Forces Operational Command and the Ministry of Health has announced that it has released resources to help the victims.

It is the first attack on the Iraqi capital since last year January, when 32 people were killed by two suicide bombers in a market in central Baghdad. The Islamic State jihadist group claimed responsibility for the attack.

Him May, four attacks blamed but attributed to Islamic State targeted Iraqi soldiers in cities near the capital, killing 18 people.

Finally, it is pointed out that Sander City is the stronghold of the supporters of the stormy Shiite Moctada Sandr, whose influence is often decisive in Iraqi politics.