A roadside bomb blast has ripped through a market in the Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq, reportedly killing more than 20 people. The bombing is the third to hit the majority-Shia neighborhood in recent months.
“A terror attack using a locally-made IED (improvised explosive device) in Woheilat Market in Sadr City, in east Baghdad, left several victims dead and others injured,” Iraq’s Interior Ministry said in a statement on Monday.
The blast happened the day before the Eid al-Adha holiday, when the market was especially busy.
The human cost of the blast is still unclear. At least 28 people were killed and “dozens” wounded, according to Reuters’ police and hospital sources, while Al Jazeera reported at least 20 deaths and 35 injured, citing anonymous “security officials.” Reuters’ sources said that some of the wounded are expected to die, given the severity of their injuries.
A predominantly Shia suburb on the outskirts of Baghdad, Sadr City was frequently targeted by Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) during the Sunni jihadist group’s violent conquest of Iraq and Syria between 2014 and 2017. Though bombings have become less frequent in the years since IS’ military defeat, Sadr City has been rocked by three such attacks in recent months.
The most recent of these bomb attacks, in June, wounded 11 people, while a car bombing in April killed at least four.
Outside Sadr, two suicide bombers killed at least 32 people and injured more than 110 in an attack on another market in Baghdad in January. Several days after the attack, IS claimed responsibility.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for Monday’s blast.
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