A bomb blast on Monday killed 24 people in a busy market square in Baghdad’s Sadr district. While Islamic State militants cut a key road from Baghdad to Mosul, where the last stronghold of Islamic State remain. The bomb blast was also the work of IS.
Amaq news agency, which supports Islamic State, stated that the car bomb had targeted a group of Shi’ite Muslims who it has labelled apostates. Sixty-seven people were wounded in the bomb blast.
North of Baghdad, U.S backed forces are fighting Islamic State, an ultra hard-line Sunni organisation, in an effort to recapture the city of Mosul. Most of the territory IS seized since 2014 has been recaptured, although current fighting is fierce.
Although this will probably spell the end as IS as a fighting force, it is believed that it will step up its guerrilla-style insurgency in Iraq and terrorist attacks in the West.
Over a course of three days, IS planned attacks claimed 30 lives in Iraq. Twenty nine people were killed on Saturday when three bombs went off in Baghdad. A policeman was killed in Najaf on Sunday, and Monday’s bomb blast injured dozens.
Nine victims were women passing through in a minibus.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said that, “The terrorists will attempt to attack civilians in order to make up for their losses, but we assure the Iraqi people and the world that we are able to end terrorism and shorten its life.”
The attack on the connecting road to Baghdad killed 16 pro-government fighters in a move believed to slow down US backed forces.
The fighting in Mosul is reported as being intense, and it is the biggest ground conflict since the 2003, U.S led invasion of Iraq. According to Abadi, Islamic State will be driven from the country by April.
The fighting in Mosul continues.