Iraqi ice cream parlor bombed
The attack there and another explosion in Baghdad kill at least 20 during the holy month of Ramadan.
BEIRUT — For residents of Baghdad, Tuesday proved yet again that, no matter whether one is young or old, civilian or military, no one is spared the carnage raging across Iraq.
Two bombs ripped through the capital on Tuesday, killing at least 20 people and wounding dozens more, according to Sumariyah News. Other news outlets put the death toll at 27.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for both attacks via Amaq, a news agency affiliated with the group, saying it had targeted “gatherings of Shiites” and “had exterminated scores of them.”
The group, also known as ISIS, espouses a harsh interpretation of Sunni Islamic law and views Shiite Muslims as apostates who are to be killed.
The first attack hit the Faqmeh ice cream shop in Karada, a shopping district that has been a frequent target of the jihadis.
Video posted on social media depicts a tree-lined thoroughfare crowded with cars. A powerful flash temporarily blinds the camera, then dissolves into a large fireball unfurling over Karada.
A photo, also found online, shows the f loor of the ice cream parlor littered with colored cups alongside stains of ice cream and blood. The shop was a popular destination for residents seeking a cool treat after their daily fasting during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Video taken in the minutes after the attack depicts a chaotic scene. In one video, a little girl walks briskly around victims, including corpses on the ground. The camera follows her for an instant, then turns to a woman lying as if asleep on the pavement.
“Ambulance … ambulance!” shouts one man. He then implores the woman, his mother, to sit up. She doesn’t respond.
Another video shows a man over the body of another man he says was “getting married in two weeks.” Other people wail in the background.
Hours later, a bomb in a car parked near the General Pension Department detonated, killing retirees who were there to collect their pensions, as well as vendors from a nearby fish market.
The city of Paris said the lights of the Eiffel Tower would be turned off at midnight “to pay tribute to the victims of the Baghdad attacks.”
Brett McGurk, special envoy to the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State, said in a tweet that “ISIS terrorists tonight in Baghdad target children and families enjoying time together at an ice cream shop.”
“We stand [with] Iraq against this evil.”
Islamic State often exhorts its adherents to strike during Ramadan. In the latest issue of its English-language magazine, Rumiyah, released Friday, it called on readers to “go forth and may you get a great reward or martyrdom” in return for conducting an operation during the month, which Muslims consider one of the holiest times of the year.
Tuesday’s explosions were not the first time Islamic State has targeted Karada during Ramadan.
In July, a refrigerator truck packed with explosives blew up in the heart of Karada, a Shiite-majority district lined with cafes, restaurants and shops. During Ramadan, it is filled with residents having a night out after iftar, the meal breaking the fast. More than 324 were killed. It was the deadliest such attack since 2003.
Then as now, Baghdad residents felt helpless. Despite hundreds of checkpoints and thousands of security personnel guarding the roads in and out of the capital, the government has been unable to stop the flow of a seemingly endless supply of Islamic State car bombs into Baghdad.
A measure of the frustration could be felt Tuesday when hackers took down the website of the national security apparatus. In its stead, they put up an angry statement on the main page that accused the security force of being ineffective because of corruption and nepotism.
“Neglect regarding the lives of people is one of the top reasons for the destruction of this country,” the statement said. “Till when will you make a joke of Iraq?”