More than 100 people are reported dead in a suicide car bombing at a busy market in Iraq. ISIL said it was behind the blast in the mainly Shi’ite
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More than 100 people are reported dead in a suicide car bombing at a busy market in Iraq.
ISIL said it was behind the blast in the mainly Shi’ite town of Khan Bani Saad, some 30 kilometres northeast of Baghdad.
It is one of the deadliest attacks carried out by the group calling itself Islamic State since it overran large parts of the country.
The explosion brought down buildings, crushing people who had been celebrating the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
ISIS claims suicide car bomb that kills over 100 in Iraq http://t.co/7nnmGgNRjQ pic.twitter.com/bEM4UIjwyM
— Haaretz.com (@haaretzcom) 17 Juillet 2015
There are conflicting accounts of the exact death toll – ranging from 35 to more than 100 – but officials say that many women and children were among the victims of the blast.
As three days of mourning were declared locally, Iraqi security forces and militia groups are focussed on their offensive in the western province of Anbar whose Sunni Muslim towns and cities have become ISIL strongholds.