Thirty-eight die in twin rush-hour bombings at Baghdad city square
Two suicide bombers killed 38 people and wounded 105 in Baghdad yesterday morning during rush hour.
“The bombers blew themselves up in Al Tayyaran square in central Baghdad,” said Gen Saad Maan, spokesman for the joint operations command.
Tayyaran Square is a centre of commerce and a place where day labourers gather in the early morning to look for work.
It has been the site of deadly attacks in the past. Ambulances gathered at the site of the bombing and security personnel had been sent in large numbers.
There was no claim of responsibility, but most such attacks in Iraq are carried out by ISIL.
On Saturday, a suicide bomb attack near a security checkpoint killed at least five people in northern Baghdad. There was no claim of responsibility.
The bombings came as Iraq gears up for parliamentary elections in May.
Prime minister Haider Al Abadi has said he will stand for re-election in the parliamentary polls as the head of a new coalition.
Mr Al Abadi’s newly created Victory Alliance will compete against the State of Law bloc of Nouri Al Maliki, his predecessor and a key rival who is now vice president. Both are members of the Shiite Dawa party.
Mr Al Abadi was little known when he became premier three years ago, after Mr Al Maliki ceded power to him in 2014 amid ISIL’s ascendancy.
Mr Al Abadi has rebuilt the armed forces and taken back disputed areas in the north from the Kurds, dashing their hopes for independence.
He has also succeeded in convincing the Hashed Al Shaabi, a Shiite-dominated paramilitary force that helped in the fight against ISIL, to join his Victory Alliance.
The Hashed, or Popular Mobilisation Units, are now trying to become a key political player in Iraq after proving to be a formidable force on the battlefield.
In November, ISIL claimed responsibility for an attack by suicide bombers on a market on the outskirts of Baghdad, which killed 11 people.