Islamic State car bomb in Iraqi capital kills more than 140
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Iraqi women wait to hear about family members who went missing after a car bomb hit Karada, a busy shopping district in the center of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, July 3, 2016. Dozens of people have been killed and more than 100 wounded in two separate bomb attacks in the Iraqi capital Sunday morning, Iraqi officials said.
BAGHDAD >> As Iraqis gathered late Saturday night in central Baghdad to eat, shop and just be together to celebrate one of the last evenings of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, a huge bomb exploded and killed at least 143 people, the third mass slaughter of civilians in three countries carried out by the Islamic State in recent days.
The attack, which occurred shortly after midnight in the middle-class neighborhood of Karada, a busy area of cafes, shops and hotels, was the deadliest single attack in Baghdad this year and was the first major assault in the capital since Iraqi forces retook Fallujah from the Islamic State late last month. Fallujah had been in the hands of the Islamic State for 2 1/2 years, longer than any other in Iraq or Syria, and many Iraqis had feared that after its liberation the Islamic State would strike back with more terrorist attacks in Baghdad.
The Sunni extremists of the Islamic State almost immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing, saying it had killed a gathering of Shiite Muslims. But Karada is a mixed area where Iraqis of all identities gather to do ordinary things: mainly to shop and eat.
By daybreak Sunday in Baghdad, fires were still burning at the bombing site, while hospitals tended to the wounded, and mourners prepared for funerals. Some bodies were believed to be still buried in the rubble of a shopping mall. Along with the deaths, at least 195 people were injured, officials said Sunday afternoon. Baghdad Operations Command, which is in charge of security in the capital, was quick to announce that it had arrested a terrorist “cell” in the city that was linked to the bombing.
Many of the victims were children — the explosion struck near a three-story complex of cafes and shops where families were celebrating a successful end of the school year, residents said — and on Sunday dozens of people were still unaccounted for.
The scenes were another brutal illustration of the paradox Iraq faces as its security forces, backed by U.S. airstrikes, make gains against the Islamic State: As more territory is won back, the group is reverting to its roots as a guerrilla insurgency, turning Baghdad once again into a killing field.
25 responses to “Islamic State car bomb in Iraqi capital kills more than 140”
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Wonder if more gun control could have prevented this massacre?
O & hiLIARy says YES.
The Muslim world is in a religious war among themselves and partly a war against us and our civilization. Half of them want to flood the West with themselves as “refugees” and we will inherit the mess if we allow them in.
O & hiLIARy & Loretta Lynch feels LOVE will conquer ALL so it’ll be fine.
Two choices maybe three. Democrats – more refugees & illegal immigrants, Republicans – legal immigration, Libertarians, ?
It’s Sunni vs Shiite. Look what happens when the US intervenes to remove a dictator in the most backward region in the world. Civil war along sect lines.
Loretta Lynch: “Our most effective response to terror and hatred is compassion, unity and love.”
Maybe the world is not giving enough love to ISIS?
Lynch…sickening!
We can send her and Barry to give them a group hug.
Dissing the POTUS is like sitting for the National Anthem. For shame.
Where was the POTUS on 9/11/2012 when Hilliary needed him? Mia with Bergdahl ?
Another tremendously successful effort by the members of the “religion of peace”, the believers of islam, and their attempts to win the hearts and minds of millions around the world. Just think, we could step back into the stone age, give in to everything they demand, and we could live in a world free of terrorism. Or not.
So awful when ordinary people (in this case, nearly all Muslim) are victimized by other Muslims — or more accurately — thugs and ideologues — who are using the religion as an excuse for their terrorist acts. I’ve been to the Middle East, and I suspect that the appalling lack of security in places like Baghdad is caused by a culture of corruption and bribery.
Unfortunately the same holds true for a lot of things. These are also the ones that receive the most media coverage. More often than not, people hear more about the culprit(s) than the victim(s).
Hail to Hilliary. No telling what Baghdad or the Middle East would have been like if not for her serving as Secretary of State.
The title & stature..”US Secretary of State” used to respected..a plug nickel is worth more now.
Remember when she arrived in Kosavov with daughter Chelsea amidst the bomb and a rifle fire all around them? Brian Williams lost his anchor job for his lying when he covered new at the front-lines in Afghanistan?
She could bend down back then.
Curiously the whole world hates Muslims and want to kill them, but it seems ISIS is doing that for us only too well. Maybe Bush did the right thing after all.
We must differentiate. The Muslims themselves are victims too – of the religion Islam. The Koran is such a garbage book hailing both: Murder and peace. When you are religious “Believer” you have to forfeit your Nr.1 human quality namely :reason.
Why does Obama continue to give military-age males from middle eastern countries free access to the US? Really, why?
Birds of a feather f……um you know.
Wait until Hilliary takes over if she wins. Money talks, bs walks. Everything has a price.
4 Americans paid the ULTIMATE PRICE for her & O’ political gains.
Yep, it’s getting to stink real bad.