A suicide bomber driving a pickup loaded with explosives struck a bustling market in Baghdad on Monday, killing at least 36 people in an attack claimed by the militant Islamic State group hours after French President Francois Hollande arrived in the Iraqi capital.
The bomb went off in a fruit and vegetable market that was packed with day laborers, a police officer said, adding that another 52 people were wounded.
During a press conference with Hollande, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the bomber pretended to be a man seeking to hire day laborers. Once the workers gathered around, he detonated the vehicle.
IS claimed the attack in a statement circulated on a militant website often used by the extremists. It was the third IS-claimed attack in as many days in and around Baghdad, underscoring the lingering threat posed by the militant group despite a string of setbacks elsewhere in the country over the past year, including in and around the northern city of Mosul.
The attack took place in Sadr City, a vast Shia district in eastern Baghdad that has been repeatedly targeted by Sunni extremists since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
Shia militiamen loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr, the firebrand cleric for whose family the neighborhood is named, were seen evacuating bodies in their trucks before ambulances arrived. Dead bodies were scattered across the bloody pavement alongside fruit, vegetables and laborers' shovels and axes. A minibus filled with dead passengers was on fire.
Asaad Hashim, an owner of a mobile phone store nearby, described how the laborers pushed and shoved around the bomber's vehicle, trying to get hired.
“Then a big boom came, sending them up into the air,” said the 28-year-old, who suffered shrapnel wounds to his right hand. He blamed “the most ineffective security forces in the world” for failing to prevent the attack.
An angry crowd cursed the government, even after a representative of al-Sadr tried to calm them. Late in December 2016, Iraqi authorities started removing some of the security checkpoints in Baghdad in a bid to ease traffic for the capital's six million residents.
“We have no idea who will kill at any moment and who's supposed to protect us,” said Ali Abbas, a 40-year-old father of four who was hurled over his vegetable stand by the blast. “If the securities forces can't protect us, then allow us to do the job,” he added.
Three smaller bombings elsewhere in the city on Monday killed another seven civilians and wounded at least 30, according to medics and police officials. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.
Hollande meanwhile met with al-Abadi and President Fuad Masum, and was expected to travel to the self-governing northern Kurdish region to meet French troops and local officials.
Iraqi troops, backed by a U.S.-led coalition, are fighting IS in a massive operation to retake the northern city of Mosul. Iraqi state TV said Hollande will discuss increasing support for Iraq and the latest developments in the 10-week-old offensive.
Hollande promised that France would remain a long-term ally of Iraq and called for coordination between intelligence services “in a spirit of great responsibility,” in remarks carried by his official Twitter account.
France is part of the American-led coalition formed in 2014 to fight IS after the extremist group seized large areas in Iraq and neighboring Syria. France has suffered multiple attacks claimed by the extremist group.
Since the Mosul operation started on Oct 17, Iraqi forces have seized around a quarter of the city. In the last week of December 2016, the troops resumed fighting after a two-week lull due to stiff resistance by the militants and bad weather.
Mosul is Iraq's second largest city and the last major urban area in the country controlled by IS. Iraqi and US commanders are aiming to drive IS from the city in the next three months.Three bombs killed 29 people across the capital on Saturday, and an attack near the southern city of Najaf on Sunday left seven policemen dead.
U.S.-backed Iraqi forces are currently fighting to push Islamic State, the Sunni Muslim militant group, from the northern city of Mosul, the fighters' last major stronghold in the country, but are facing fierce resistance.
The recapture of Mosul would probably spell the end for Islamic State's self-styled caliphate, but the militants would still be capable of fighting a guerrilla-style insurgency in Iraq, and plotting or inspiring attacks on the West.
Since the offensive began on Oct. 17, elite forces have retaken a quarter of Mosul in the biggest ground operation in Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has said the group would be driven out of the country by April.
As clashes continued in and around Mosul on Monday, Islamic State also targeted military positions away from the main battlefield.
Militants attacked an army barracks near Baiji, 180 km (112 miles) north of Baghdad, killing four soldiers and wounding 12 people, including Sunni tribal fighters, army and police sources said.
They seized weapons there and launched mortars at nearby Shirqat, forcing security forces to impose a curfew and close schools and offices in the town, according to local officials and security sources.
Shirqat mayor Ali Dodah said Islamic State seized three checkpoints on the main road linking Baiji to Shirqat following the attacks. Shelling in Shirqat had killed at least two children, he told Reuters by phone.
In a separate incident, gunmen broke into a village near Udhaim, 90 km (56 miles) north of Baghdad, where they executed nine Sunni tribal fighters with shots to the head, police and medical sources said.
At least three pro-government Shi'ite militia fighters were also killed and seven wounded when militants attacked their position near Udhaim with mortar rounds and machine guns, police sources said.
