2016 Karrada bombing
On 3 July 2016, ISIL militants carried out coordinated bomb attacks in Baghdad that killed 340 civilians and injured hundreds more.[4] A few minutes after midnight local time (2 July, 21:00 UTC), a suicide truck-bomb targeted the mainly Shia district of Karrada, busy with late night shoppers for Ramadan. A second roadside bomb was detonated in the suburb of Sha'ab, killing at least five.
July 2016 Karrada bombing
Western-style shopping centre in a multicultural & multi-faith district of Baghdad.
250+
ISIL issued a statement claiming responsibility for the attack, naming the suicide bomber as Abu Maha al-Iraqi. There were reports that the source of the blast was a refrigerator van packed with explosives. The explosion caused a huge fire on the main street. Several buildings, including the popular Hadi Center, were badly damaged.
On 18 October 2021, Prime Minister of Iraq Mustafa Al-Kadhimi announced that Ghazwan al-Zawbaee, the man behind the bombing was arrested by Iraqi security forces.[5][6]
Background[edit]
The 17 May 2016 Baghdad bombings, which killed over 101 people, were perpetrated by ISIL. Some security analysts saw the bombings in Iraq's capital as an effort to distract the attention of the Iraqi security forces from the then-ongoing battle in Fallujah.[7] The 2016 Battle of Fallujah came to a close on 29 June with the Iraqi government recapturing the city from ISIL.[8]
The Baghdad bombings were the third mass killing of civilians by ISIL militants in that past week, following the 28 June attack in Istanbul, Turkey, and the 1 July attack in Dhaka, Bangladesh.[9] ISIL had sent out calls for increased attacks during the month long celebration of Ramadan.[10]
Casualties[edit]
The Iraqi Ministry of Defence first stated that at least 167 had been killed and over 180 injured.[13][26] Reports from the scene indicated that many of those killed were children.[3][13] After initial reports, the death toll continued to rise as further corpses were recovered from the rubble and injured victims died of their injuries.[11]
Abdel Ghani Saadon, the general manager of Rusafa Health Directorate, issued a statement noting that the "hospitals of al-Kandi, al-Sadr and Sheikh Zayed received 138 wounded and 70 dead bodies of al-Karrada bombing".[27] He noted that fifty bodies were burned beyond recognition, and that samples from them had been sent for DNA testing to determine their identities.[27]
Responsibility[edit]
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant issued a statement claiming that it was responsible for the attack and that it had deliberately targeted Shia Muslims,[3] further identifying the suicide bomber as Abu Maha al-Iraqi.[12][3]
Jasim al-Bahadli, a former army officer and security analyst in Baghdad, stated that the attack was an ISIL attempt to "compensate for their humiliating defeat in Falluja".[11]
