A twin suicide bombing claimed by
Islamic State killed 70 people in a Shi'ite district of Baghdad on Sunday in
the deadliest attack inside the capital this year, as militants launched an
assault on its western outskirts.
Police sources said the suicide bombers
were riding motorcycles and blew themselves up in a crowded mobile phone market
in Sadr City, wounding more than 100 people in addition to the dead.
A Reuters witness saw pools of blood on
the ground with slippers, shoes and mobile phones at the site of the blasts,
which was sealed off to prevent further attacks.
In a statement circulated online,
Islamic State said it was responsible for the blasts: "Our swords will not
cease to cut off the heads of the rejectionist polytheists, wherever they
are," it said, using derogatory terms for Shi'ite Muslims.
Iraqi forces backed by airstrikes from a
U.S.-led coalition have driven Islamic State back in the western Anbar province
recently 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, often targeting members of Iraq's
Shi'ite majority, most recently on Thursday when two Islamic State suicide
bombers killed 15 people at a mosque in the capital.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the
attacks were in response to Islamic State's recent defeats: "This gang
targeted civilians after it lost the initiative and its dregs fled the
battlefield before our proud fighters," he said on his official Facebook
page.
At dawn on Sunday, suicide bombers and
gunmen attacked Iraqi security forces in Abu Ghraib, seizing positions in a
grain silo and a cemetery, and killing at least 17 members of the security
forces, officials said.
Security officials blamed Islamic State,
and a news agency that supports the group said it had launched a "wide
attack" in Abu Ghraib, 25 km (15 miles) from the centre of Baghdad and
next to the international airport.
Footage circulated online by the Amaq
news agency appeared to show Islamic State fighters crouching behind dirt berms
and launching the attack with automatic rifles, machine guns and
rocket-propelled grenades. Reuters could not verify the video's authenticity.
Security forces had mostly regained
control by Sunday evening but officials said there were still clashes.
Baghdad-based security analyst Jasim
al-Bahadli said the assault suggested it was premature to declare that Islamic
State was losing the initiative in Iraq.
"Government forces must do a better
job repelling attacks launched by Daesh. What happened today could be a setback
for the security forces," he said, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic
State.
COUNTER OFFENSIVE
Army and police sources said the
militants had attacked from the nearby Islamic State-controlled areas of Garma
and Falluja, driving Humvees and pickup trucks fixed with machine guns.
A curfew was imposed as a regiment of
Iraq's elite counter-terrorism forces was mobilised to retake the silo in Abu
Ghraib and prevent the militants approaching the nearby airport, security
officials said.
Iraqi army helicopters bombarded Islamic
State positions in the and Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier General Saad
Maan said at least 20 militants had been killed in the government's counter
offensive.
Fighters from the Hashid Shaabi, a
coalition of mainly Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias, were mobilised to Abu
Ghraib to reinforce regular government forces in the area, said Jawad
al-Tulaibawi, a local Hashid commander.
Powerful Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr
also called on fighters loyal to him to be on alert to protect Baghdad. Shi'ite
militias like Sadr's 'Peace Brigades' were seen as a bulwark against Islamic
State's sweeping advance in 2014 which threatened Iraq's capital and its most
sacred Shi'ite shrines.
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