The Sunni terror group ISIS says it’s behind a series of attacks in Iraq’s capital Wednesday that targeted Shiites and left more than 90 people dead.
At least 64 people were killed when a car bomb went off at a market in Baghdad, according to Iraqi police. Another 87 people were wounded in that attack in the largely Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City.
Pictures of the aftermath of the explosion showed hundreds gathered near a chaotic scene. Blood marked the street, cars had their windows blown out and nearly an entire sidewalk was left charred.
Later in the day, a suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest detonated in a busy square in the Shiite neighborhood of al-Kadhimiya, killing 17 people and wounding 43 others, two police officials in Baghdad told CNN. A suicide car bomber exploded in the Sunni neighborhood of al-Jamia in western Baghdad, killing 12 people and wounding 31 others. The attackers targeted a checkpoint manned by Shiites.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks, according to a message on the Twitter account for Amaq, a media outlet linked to the group.
Several mosques in Baghdad urged citizens to donate blood to help the wounded.
ISIS attacks come in security vacuum
Experts have said that a security vacuum has opened in Iraq amid the political turmoil the nation has been facing lately. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi struggles to firm up a government capable of battling ISIS and, at the same time, continue to address problems related to Iraq’s long-standing economic and political wounds from years of war.
The Prime Minister’s office said he ordered increased intelligence efforts to prevent sleeper cells from moving within cities to carry out attacks.
ISIS has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks in Iraq in recent weeks, including one last month east of Baghdad in which more than two dozen people were killed.
