Iraq: Islamic State Claims Baghdad Truck-Bomb Blast
By MISNA
The Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for Thursday’s morning’s truck-bomb blast that left scores dead and injured at a market in the Shiite-majority Sadr City area of the capital Baghdad.
In a statement released to the international media, the Sunni Islamist militants hailed “the blessed operation that allowed the Islamic State soldiers to blow up a truck”.
In a tweet, IS specified that the target was posts of militants it has been combating for over a year in northern and western Iraq. A refrigerator truck was blown up at the Jamela market, the city’s largest wholesale vegetable market at around 6:30am local time, among the busiest times with people shopping for the weekend.
The toll of the attack remains uncertain, in absence of an official toll the international media is reporting between 60 and 76 dead, with dozens of injured, up to 200. Reporters are also referring that groups of residents have gathered in protest against the government over the new attack.
Meanwhile, the German government firmly denounced a chemical attack in the past days against Kurd combatants, shown by evident respiratory problems suffered by many injured. No specification was made on who was responsible: the German Defence ministry is currently training Peshmerga fighters who are combating IS.
