IS claims responsibility for Iraq truck bomb that killed more than 70 people

A massive truck bomb ripped through a popular Baghdad food market in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood in the early morning hours on Thursday, killing at least 76 people and injuring more than 200 others, officials said. A statement circulated online by supporters of the Islamic State group said the blast had targeted what it called a stronghold of the “charlatan army” and Shiite Muslim militias. The market in the Shiite neighborhood is one of the biggest in Baghdad selling wholesale food items. People gathering at the scene cried and shouted the names of missing relatives; others cursed the government.

This is the strongest explosion I ever saw in my life.

Witness

Fire trucks and ambulances rushed to the scene and firefighters were dousing the still-smoldering complex with water long after the explosion. The attack is one of the biggest on the Iraq capital since Haider al-Abadi became prime minister a year ago. While near-daily attacks are common in the capital, death tolls have rarely reached this level for a single attack since the height of the country’s brutal sectarian bloodletting in 2006 and 2007.

World truck bombing Baghdad