SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Islamic State (ISIS) claimed responsibility early on Friday for Baghdad’s suicide attack, via the group’s Amaq news agency on its Telegram channel.
Two men blew themselves up in a crowded Baghdad market on Thursday, killing at least 32 people, authorities said, describing it as a possible sign of the reactivation of Islamic State.
Suicide attacks, once an almost daily occurrence in the Iraqi capital, have halted in recent years since Islamic State fighters were defeated in 2017, part of an overall improvement in security that has brought normal life back to Baghdad.
Thursday’s attack took place in the same market that was struck in the last big attack, in January, 2018, when at least 27 people were killed.
Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi held an urgent meeting with top security commanders to discuss Thursday’s attacks, the premier’s office said in a brief statement. Iraqi security forces were deployed and key roads blocked to prevent possible further attacks.
Following the urgent meeting, Kadhimi sacked key security and police commanders, deputy interior minister for intelligence affairs, director of counter terrorism and intelligence in the interior ministry and commander of federal police forces, said a military spokesman in a statement.
