- Title: Baghdad car bomb death toll rises
- Date: 11th May 2016
- Summary: BAGHDAD, IRAQ (MAY 11, 2016) (REUTERS) CROWD OF PEOPLE AT BLAST SCENE CROWD OF PEOPLE NEAR BUILDING HIT BY BLAST DAMAGED SHOP SCATTERED WRECKAGE ON GROUND / PEOPLE MILLING AROUND PEOPLE NEAR DAMAGED CARS AT BLAST SCENE
- Embargoed: 26th May 2016 13:25
- Keywords: Baghdad Iraq blast Sadr city violence
- Location: BAGHDAD, IRAQ
- City: BAGHDAD, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Topics: Bombing (non-military),Conflicts/War/Peace
- Reuters ID: LVA0014HD6MH3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Police and hospital sources confirmed 52 people had been killed in a blast in the Iraqi capital's Shi'ite district on Wednesday (May 11) but it was likely to rise.
The car bomb ripped through the area, leaving behind charred buildings, mangled vehicles and pools of blood. More than 78 people were wounded in the blast. Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement circulated online by supporters saying it had targeted Shi'ite militia fighters gathered in the area.
It was the biggest inside the city for months.
Security has gradually improved in the Iraqi capital, which was the target of daily bombings a decade ago, but violence directed against the security forces and Shi'ite civilians is still frequent. Large blasts sometimes set off reprisal attacks against the minority Sunni community.
The fight against Islamic State, which seized about a third of Iraq's territory in 2014, has exacerbated a long-running sectarian conflict in Iraq mostly between Sunnis and the Shi'ite majority that emerged after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Such violence threatens to undermine U.S.-backed efforts to dislodge the militant group.
Wednesday's attack in Sadr City could also intensify pressure on Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to resolve a political crisis that has crippled the government for more than a month.
"Many people were killed and you can see blood everywhere. They were poor people who were here to earn their living. They earn just five, ten or fifteen (thousand Iraqi dinars) a day and were killed in cold blood. Why did this happen? Can this corrupt government tell us why? The people are dying because of this government," an unidentified local resident said.
Iraqi forces backed by airstrikes from a nearly two-year-old U.S.-led campaign have driven the group back in the western province of Anbar and are preparing for an offensive to retake the northern city of Mosul. But the militants are still able to strike outside territory they control.
The ultra-hardline Sunni jihadist group, which considers Shi'ites apostates, has claimed recent attacks across the country as well as a twin suicide bombing in Sadr City in February that killed 70 people. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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