Just a day after terrorists attacked a café in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and Istanbul’s airport on June 28, Islamic State (ISIL) has claimed to be behind another deadly attack in central Baghdad, Iraq, the Associated Press (AP) reports.
According to the latest updates, at least 79 have died and 160 have been wounded in two attacks carried in busy areas of in Iraq’s capital. The largest of the recent attacks occurred in Karrada, a shopping area, Saturday night around midnight, while people were out after breaking the daily Ramadan fast at sunset. According to the AP reporters on site, the area was crowded with young people and families, and many of the dead are children.
ISIL claimed the attack, saying it was targeted at Shiite Muslims (ISIL considers itself Sunni, the other major sect of Islam). Hours later, another bomb went off in the eastern part of the city, killing 5 and injuring 16, though the attack hasn’t yet been claimed.
The terrorist organization is believed to control less than 14% of Iraq’s territory, though it holds control of large areas in the north and west of the country and of Mosul, the country’s second-largest city.