Car bombing kills 18 in Baghdad

ISIS claims attack on Shiites honoring 8th-century imam

Iraqis inspect the scene after a car bomb explosion in Baghdad’s southwestern Saydiyah neighborhood on Monday.
Iraqis inspect the scene after a car bomb explosion in Baghdad’s southwestern Saydiyah neighborhood on Monday.

BAGHDAD -- An explosives-laden car detonated Monday in the Iraqi capital, killing at least 18 Shiite pilgrims who were commemorating the anniversary of the death of a revered imam, officials said.

Shortly after the explosion, the Sunni extremist Islamic State group, which sees Shiite Muslims as apostates, claimed responsibility for the attack in an online statement.

There were conflicting reports about the attack, with the Islamic State claiming in a statement circulated on social media that 40 people were killed and dozens more injured in a suicide attack involving a car bomb. Iraqi officials denied that it had been a suicide bombing.

The bombing had been part of a series of planned assaults against Shiites, the militant group said.

The statement could not be independently verified by news agency dpa.

Islamic State militants frequently target commercial areas and public spaces in mainly Shiite towns and neighborhoods.

According to an Iraqi police officer, the car was parked in Baghdad's southwestern Saydiyah neighborhood and blew up shortly after midday. The explosion killed at least 18 and wounded 45 people, the officer said.

A medical official confirmed the casualty figures. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity, as they were not authorized to talk to the media.

The number of deaths is expected to rise because of the severity of the injuries, said a local police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Tens of thousands of Shiite faithful have been making their way this week to the northern Baghdad neighborhood of Kadhimiyah, where the eighth-century Imam Moussa al-Kadhim is buried. Security forces have blocked major roads in Baghdad in anticipation of attacks against pilgrims who traditionally travel on foot from different parts of Iraq.

Monday's attack came a day after two car bombs in the southern Iraqi city of Samawah killed at least 31 people and wounded 52, an attack that was also claimed by the Islamic State.

The annual Shiite pilgrimage prompted anti-government protesters on Sunday to temporarily disband their demonstration in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, which they had stormed a day earlier.

While the Islamic State has suffered a number of territorial defeats in the past year, the group still controls large stretches of territory in Iraq's north and west, including the country's second-largest city, Mosul, estimated to still be home to more than 1 million civilians. Militants have recently increased attacks inside Baghdad in what officials say is an attempt to distract from their recent battlefield defeats.

According to the United Nations, at least 741 Iraqis were killed in April as a result of the ongoing violence, a sharp decline from the previous month. In its monthly report issued Sunday, the U.N. mission to Iraq put the number of civilians killed at 410, while the rest were members of the security forces.

A total of 1,374 Iraqis were wounded that month, it added.

In March, at least 1,119 people were killed and 1,561 wounded.

Baghdad remains the worst-hit area, with 232 civilians killed and 642 wounded in April, followed by the northern province of Nineveh, which is almost entirely controlled by the Islamic State, with 72 killed and 30 wounded.

Information for this article was contributed by Sinan Salaheddin, Murtada Faraj and Maamoun Youssef of The Associated Press; and by Khadem Al-Attabi and Marwa Al-A'sar of Deutsche Presse-Agentur.

A Section on 05/03/2016

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