Iraq begins 3 days of mourning

BAGHDAD. — Iraq began three days of national mourning yesterday for the 213 people killed by a suicide bombing in a busy Baghdad shopping district claimed by Islamic State (IS) group jihadists, the deadliest attack in the capital this year. The blast hit the Karrada District early on Sunday as the area was packed with shoppers ahead of this week’s holiday marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced three days of national mourning for the victims as he visited the site of the attack and his office said he had vowed to “punish” the perpetrators. He also ordered changes to Baghdad security measures in response to the bombing, which security officials said killed at least 213 people and wounded more than 200.

The attack came a week after Iraqi security forces recaptured Fallujah from the IS group, leaving Mosul as the only Iraqi city under the jihadist group’s control. The blast set buildings ablaze, and crowds of people watched from the rubble-filled street as emergency personnel carried out victims and worked on the site.A member of the civil defence forces said it would take “a number of days” to recover the bodies of the victims.

Hussein Ali, a 24-year-old former soldier, said six workers at his family’s shop were killed, their bodies were so badly burnt that they could not be identified. “I will return to the battlefront. At least there, I know the enemy so I can fight him. But here, I don’t know who I’m fighting,” Ali told AFP.

The IS group issued a statement claiming responsibility for the suicide bombing, saying it was carried out by Iraqi as part of “ongoing security operations”. The jihadist group said the blast targeted Iraq’s Shiite Muslim majority, whom the Sunni extremists consider heretics and frequently carry out attacks in Baghdad and elsewhere.

The White House on Sunday said the attack only strengthened the United States’ resolve to confront the IS group. “We remain united with the Iraqi people and government in our combined efforts to destroy ISIL,” said the White House statement, referring to the IS group.

Officials said another explosion in the Shaab area of northern Baghdad killed at least one person and wounded four on Sunday, but the cause of the blast was disputed. Bombings in the capital have decreased since the IS group overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in June 2014, with the jihadists apparently more concerned with operations elsewhere.— France24/AFP.