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IS bombing kills at least 79 in Baghdad

July 3rd, 2016 | Tags:
Many of the dead were children, it is reported. Photo: Reuters
BBC NEWS

At least 79 people have been killed and 131 injured in an explosion claimed by the Islamic State group in Baghdad, Iraqi police say.

A car bomb exploded near a restaurant and shopping area in the central district of Karrada late on Saturday.

The street was busy with shoppers after sundown in the holy month of Ramadan, which ends this week.

Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi was met by angry crowds while visiting the scene of the blast on Sunday.

A second bomb also exploded at about midnight in a predominantly Shia area north of the capital, killing another five people.

The bombings, among the deadliest in Iraq this year, come a week after Iraqi security forces recaptured the city of Falluja from Islamic State (IS) militants.

Authorities say the city was used as a launching pad for attacks on Baghdad by IS.

The hardline Sunni jihadist group claimed responsibility for the car bomb in Karrada in a online statement distributed by supporters.

There are reports that the source of the blast, which struck close to midnight, was a refrigerator van packed with explosives.

Many of those killed in the attack were children, Associated Press reported. Families gathered on the street on Sunday morning for news of loved ones who were still missing.

The explosion caused a huge fire on the main street. Several buildings, including the popular al-Hadi Centre, were badly damaged and were still on fire early on Sunday.

Mr Abadi visited the scene in the morning, and was met crowds who shouted "thief" and "dog". Video posted online appeared to show a convoy, reported to be Mr Abadi's, being pelted with stones.

IS still controls large swathes of territory in the country's north and west, including Mosul, Iraq's second largest city.

But the group has been under pressure in Iraq and in neighbouring Syria, where it has been targeted by government forces and US-backed rebels.

This latest deadly attack took place in the central Karrada district when Iraqis, like many Muslims in the Arab world, gather in large numbers in juice bars and cafes during the holy month of Ramadan.

Angry residents chased the convoy of the Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi with stones and bricks when he tried to visit the scene of the carnage few hours after the explosion.

The also vented their anger online. Hackers broke into the website of the interior ministry and placed a gruesome picture of a killed child and a drawing of a fake bomb detector, one of the useless devices that are still in use in Baghdad at checkpoints, through which car bombs and suicide bombers pass.

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