At least 70 people have been killed and more than 100 others injured in two bomb blasts that targeted Shia-dominated Sadr City in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, according to Reuters.
The twin bombings took place on Sunday when hundreds of shoppers gathered at crowded Mredi market in Sadr City, according to the Associated Press. Interior ministry spokesperson Sad Main had earlier said the bombings had killed 38 people and wounded 62 others.
The Islamic State Sunni jihadist group has claimed the responsibility for the bomb blasts, saying it targeted Shia Muslims. "Our swords will not cease to cut off the heads of the rejectionist polytheists, wherever they are," the terror group said in a statement, using a derogatory term for Shias.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi condemned the deadly attacks saying that ISIS fighters targeted civilians after major setbacks in battlefield.
"This gang targeted civilians after it lost the initiative and its dregs fled the battlefield before our proud fighters," he said in a statement, according to Zee News.
The attacks came few hours after Iraqi security forces killed dozens ISIS fighters who had launched an assault on Abu Ghraib suburb in Baghdad, according to Xinhua. Several Iraqi soldiers were killed in counter offensive operation. Security forces also imposed a curfew in the suburb.
