Daesh car-bomb kills 56 in Baghdad’s Sadr City

The death toll from Wednesday’s car-bomb attack in Baghdad’s predominantly-Shia Sadr City district -- responsibility for which has since been claimed by the Daesh terrorist group -- has risen to 56, local medical sources have said.

Daesh car-bomb kills 56 in Baghdad’s Sadr City

Ali Jaasim, an assistant doctor at Sadr City’s Imam Ali Hospital, also said the number of injured had risen to 78.

In a statement, the army’s Baghdad Operations Command said the attack had targeted a crowded marketplace.

Daesh, speaking via a group-affiliated website, said the attack had been carried out by one of its suicide bombers, who it identified as Abu Sulaiyman al-Ansari.

In recent years, bombings and shooting attacks, which often target civilians, have become a common occurrence in war-torn Iraq, especially capital Baghdad.

Iraq has suffered a devastating security vacuum since 2014, when Daesh overran Mosul -- the country’s second largest city -- before going on to capture additional territory in Iraq and Syria.

Anadolu Agency

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