Prayers, mourning after blast in Baghdad kills at least 126 people
Iraqis gathered in central Baghdad Saturday evening to watch the Euro Cup and break the Ramadan fast were targeted in the third mass slaughter carried out in ISIS鈥檚 name in the past week.
At least聽, and another 200 were wounded when a car bomb exploded in a crowded shopping district in Karrada, in the Iraqi capital, as CNN reported. The deadliest attack in Iraq in the past year, the suicide bombing occurred just a little over a week after US-backed Iraqi forces liberated Fallujah from ISIS control.
聽exploded around midnight Saturday night in another predominantly Shiite area north of the capital, killing five more people.
鈥淭hese attacks only 聽to support Iraqi security forces as they continue to take back territory from ISIL, just as we continue to intensify our efforts to root out ISIL's terrorist network and leaders,鈥� the White House said in a statement.
An hour鈥檚 drive west of Baghdad, Fallujah was thought to serve as a launch pad for suicide bombers attacking Baghdad and Iraqi officials claimed that retaking Fallujah .
When Iraqi Prime Minister Haider-al-Abadi arrived at the scene of the Karada attack, his convoy was surrounded by civilians furious that their government鈥檚 military campaign and security measures had failed to prevent the attack.
In a statement, al-Abadi said he understands the reaction in "" by the residents who threw objects at his convoy, according to CNN, and he said he came to Karrada to console families and "share their sorrow in this painful tragedy that happened."
Iraqis gathered at the site of the attack ,听, and聽聽for聽bodies throughout the day Sunday, as Jeremy Bowen reported for BBC.
" 鈥� the father and his sons, the mother and her daughters 鈥� whole families were wiped out by this explosion," a member of the civil聽defense聽forces told Yahoo! News. "We need a number of days to be able to recover the聽bodies of victims. It is a difficult task." On Sunday, in the hopes of locating them.
ISIS swiftly claimed responsibility for the bombing in a statement posted online, saying it had , according to the Associated Press, while others vowed to stand united in the face of attacks聽designed聽to fuel聽sectarian聽tension and .
These attacks followed the ISIS attacks in recent days on a restaurant in Dhaka, Bangladesh and the international airport in Istanbul.
