The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for bombing attacks on Wednesday in Iraq’s capital city of Baghdad. As the Islamic State keeps losing ground on the battlefield, it is increasingly turning to terror attacks on civilian populations. The bombing attacks happened at an open air market and at two security checkpoints in the city.
At least 64 people were murdered by a car bomb at a marketplace while nearly 90 others were killed or injured in a bombing attack in a Shiite and Sunni neighborhood in the city. Hundreds were gathered around the destroyed vehicles that the Islamic State used as a murder weapon. The devastation was immense as the sidewalk and street were blackened from the explosion and there was blood everywhere.
After the initial car blast, an Islamic State member detonated a bomb vest in two western Baghdad neighborhoods. Citizens were asked to donate blood to the wounded at their local mosques. Regional experts point to a near chaotic situation across Iraq with little security in check. The Islamic State believes that Iraq is ripe for attack because of all the chaos and confusion there. The prime minister of the country has been trying to stabilize the country but years of war have made it almost impossible to do.
The Islamic State has been boldly carrying out attacks all across Iraq in recent weeks as it suspects that the standing government there is incapable of responding with force. The government has tried to escalate its intelligence efforts but those operations have not met with much success with regard to preventing terror cells from coming into the country and carrying out attacks.
In a related Islamic State attack, it took responsibility for carrying out an attack at a funeral where six people were reported murdered.
PHOTO CREDITS: The Associated Press / Reuters