Iraqi security forces and citizens were inspecting the scene after an explosion occurred at the Wahirat market in the Sadr district of Baghdad, Iraq on July 19, 2021. (Photo: Murtadha Al-Sudani/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
- The bombing occurred on Monday in the Al-Woheilat market in Sadr City.
- Thirty people were killed in the explosion and dozens were injured.
- Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi said that all members of the terrorist organization that planned and carried out the attack have been arrested.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Khadmi announced on Saturday that a “terrorist group” had been arrested in the Baghdad market bombing. The bombing killed dozens of people and the Islamic State group claimed to have claimed possession of it.
The attack caused people to resent and new concerns about the sphere of influence of the Islamic State. After the arduous battle that ended at the end of 2017, the Islamic State lost its last territory in Iraq, but kept sleeping berths in remote deserts and mountains.
The explosion occurred on Monday in the Al-Woheilat market in Sadr, a Shiite suburb of the capital, and officially killed 30 people, excluding the direct perpetrators.
Kadmi said on Twitter: “We have arrested all members of the timid terrorist organization that planned and carried out this attack, and they will be tried today.”
The prime minister did not specify the number of people arrested, but a source in the Ministry of the Interior said that the suspect is expected to “confess guilt” on television, which is a common occurrence of major crimes in Iraq.
Read also | At least 21 people were killed and 33 injured in Iraqi market explosion: medical source
Fatal attacks in Baghdad were common during the sectarian bloodshed following the 2003 US-led invasion, and later the Islamic State swept through most of Iraq in a lightning offensive in 2014.
Iraq announced the defeat of ISIS at the end of 2017 after a fierce three-year battle, and attacks in the capital became relatively rare-until January this year, ISIS claimed that there were two suicide bombings in another market, killing 32 people die.
The U.S.-led coalition supporting Iraq’s campaign against the Islamic State has drastically reduced the number of its troops in the past year, citing an increase in the capabilities of the Iraqi army.
But the U.S. military has been the target of the pro-Iranian armed factions in Iraq, and they want them to withdraw from the country completely.
The United States and Iran are hostile to IS, but Tehran also regards Washington as its mortal enemy.
-New drone attack-
The U.S.-led coalition said on Saturday that an armed drone aimed at a military base in Kurdistan, Iraq, where U.S. troops are stationed, and no casualties were caused.
This is the latest in a series of attacks on US military and diplomatic facilities in Iraq.
Iraqi Kurdish media claimed that the target of the attack was the Harir base 70 kilometers northeast of Albil, the capital of the Kurdish Autonomous Region.
So far this year, U.S. interests in Iraq have been hit by 50 rockets and drones — Washington has consistently blamed the attacks on Tehran-backed factions operating within the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary coalition in Iraq.
The Iraqi Resistance Movement Coordination Committee threatened on Friday that unless the United States withdraws all its troops and ends the “occupation”, it will continue to launch attacks.
Most of the U.S. troops deployed in the coalition helped defeat the Islamic State in Iraq in 2017 and were withdrawn under the leadership of former U.S. President Donald Trump.
Those who stayed are officially listed as advisers and trainers of the Iraqi army and counter-terrorism forces.
Kadmi is expected to meet with U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington on Monday to discuss the possible complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
However, analysts said that the events that occurred after the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq in 2011—especially the rise of the Islamic State—may make Biden reluctant to authorize a full withdrawal because he was afraid of providing jihadists with room for rebirth.
