Baghdad devastated with twin suicide bomb attacks after 3 years
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Baghdad, Jan 21: A twin suicide bombing has killed at least 23 people and wounded more than 50 in a Baghdad market on Thursday (Jan 21). There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. Suicide bombings have become rare in the capital city of Iraq, ever since the defeat of Islamic State in 2017. The last such attack is recorded to have taken place in Jan 2018.
The Iraqi military has reported that two attackers wearing explosive vests blew themselves up among shoppers at a crowded market in Tayaran Square in central Baghdad, and that several people had been killed instantly. An interior ministry spokesman has reported that for now a death toll of at least 23 has been confirmed, while the number is expected to rise since some of those wounded were in critical condition. A video that was shot from a rooftop and popularly circulated on social media post the blasts, showed the second blast scattering the people gathered in the area. Images shared online showed several people apparently dead or wounded.
Baghdad has witnessed no such attacks since Iraqi forces and a US backed coalition drove Islamic State from the territory it controlled in Iraq in 2017. The last deadly suicide blast in the Iraqi capital had also taken place at Tayaran Square and killed at least 27 people in January 2018.
Iraqi authorities haven't immediately connected the attack to any organization however, they have called it a terrorist incident. By defining the incident as a terrorist attack and the history of terrorism in Iraq, the indication is clearly towards ISIS, with no definite claims. The primary reason for the hypothesis is the fact that ISIS militants continue to function in Iraq covertly, waging an insurgency against Iraqi forces.
The militant group has been largely responsible for several incidents of attacking local officials in areas of Northern Iraq. The Iraqi govt and military officials however, don't consider Islamic State to be capable enough in order to take over significant territory. But the govt is affirmative of the information that it will continue to wage attacks that threaten Iraq’s stability and security.