BAGHDAD: A bomb exploded in a busy Baghdad market on Wednesday, wounding at least 15 people, Iraq’s military said.
The blast occurred when an improvised explosive device placed under a kiosk detonated in the Maridi market area of Sadr City, a suburb in the eastern part of the capital. The military said the wounded had minor injuries and most left hospital soon after receiving treatment.
Slippers were seen among the debris of the explosion as police cordoned off the area. A metal door was perforated by shrapnel.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the Daesh group has claimed similar attacks in the area before.
Security forces launched an investigation to determine the perpetrators, the statement said.
It was the second time this year that a bomb hit a market in the densely populated neighborhood. In April, at least four people were killed in a car bomb attack in Sadr City. That blast was caused by an explosive device attached to a parked car at the market.
Large bomb attacks, once an almost daily occurrence in Baghdad, have slowed in recent years since IS was defeated in 2017.
But attacks persist. In January, over 30 people were killed in a twin suicide bombing in a busy commercial area in central Baghdad. It was the most deadly bombing in three years to strike Iraq’s capital.
Roadside bombs continue to target primarily Iraqi security forces outside the capital, especially across northern Iraq where IS militants are known to have hideouts.
Iraqi military: Bomb explodes in Baghdad suburb, wounding 15
https://arab.news/897gn
Iraqi military: Bomb explodes in Baghdad suburb, wounding 15
- Iraqi military confirmed the explosion without providing details
- The blast was heard in a market in Sadr City
UN rights chief Shocked by ‘unbearable’ Darfur atrocities
- Mediation efforts have failed to produce a ceasefire, even after international outrage intensified last year with reports of mass killings, rape, and abductions during the RSF’s takeover of El-Fasher in Darfur
PORT SUDAN: Nearly three years of war have put the Sudanese people through “hell,” the UN’s rights chief said on Sunday, blasting the vast sums spent on advanced weaponry at the expense of humanitarian aid and the recruitment of child soldiers.
Since April 2023, Sudan has been gripped by a conflict between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces that has left tens of thousands of people dead and around 11 million displaced.
Speaking in Port Sudan during his first wartime visit, UN Human Rights commissioner Volker Turk said the population had endured “horror and hell,” calling it “despicable” that funds that “should be used to alleviate the suffering of the population” are instead spent on advanced weapons, particularly drones.
More than 21 million people are facing acute food insecurity, and two-thirds of Sudan’s population is in urgent need of humanitarian aid, according to the UN.
In addition to the world’s largest hunger and displacement crisis, Sudan is also facing “the increasing militarization of society by all parties to the conflict, including through the arming of civilians and recruitment and use of children,” Turk added.
He said he had heard testimony of “unbearable” atrocities from survivors of attacks in Darfur, and warned of similar crimes unfolding in the Kordofan region — the current epicenter of the fighting.
Testimony of these atrocities must be heard by “the commanders of this conflict and those who are arming, funding and profiting from this war,” he said.
Mediation efforts have failed to produce a ceasefire, even after international outrage intensified last year with reports of mass killings, rape, and abductions during the RSF’s takeover of El-Fasher in Darfur.
“We must ensure that the perpetrators of these horrific violations face justice regardless of the affiliation,” Turk said on Sunday, adding that repeated attacks on civilian infrastructure could constitute “war crimes.”
He called on both sides to “cease intolerable attacks against civilian objects that are indispensable to the civilian population, including markets, health facilities, schools and shelters.”
Turk again warned on Sunday that crimes similar to those seen in El-Fasher could recur in volatile Kordofan, where the RSF has advanced, besieging and attacking several key cities.
Hundreds of thousands face starvation across the region, where more than 65,000 people have been displaced since October, according to the latest UN figures.
