ISIS claims responsibility for Baghdad suicide bombing

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The Islamic State (ISIS) has claimed responsibility for a double suicide bombing in central Baghdad’s Tayaran Square on Thursday that left more than 30 dead in the first attack of its kind in several years.  

Two suicide bombers belonging to the terror group detonated explosive belts in the crowded square, the group confirmed via its propaganda telegram channels late on Thursday. It said the second bomber struck as people gathered after the first explosion. 

Thirty-two people were killed and 110 injured in the attack, according to Iraq's Ministry of Health.

The first attacker claimed to feel sick, attracting a crowd of helpers before detonating his explosive device, according to the interior ministry.  

Ministry spokesperson Major General Tahsin Al-Khafaji told al-Iraqiya TV on Thursday that the bombings "bear the imprint of ISIS."

The terror group struck the same square in 2018, killing 28 people.

ISIS claimed on Thursday in its weekly propaganda newspaper al-Naba that it had killed and injured at least 40 people in 30 operations in Iraq from January 15 to January 21.

In an emergency meeting shortly after the bombing, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi dismissed and reshuffled several security and intelligence officials responsible for security in the area where the attack took place, not far from the capital’s Green Zone.

Five senior officials were dismissed or moved from their positions, according to details later tweeted by military spokesperson Yehia Rasool.

Iraqi President Barham Salih condemned Thursday’s double suicide bombing as a “rogue attempt” to destabilize the country, which is in the midst of economic and political turmoil.

After seizing swathes of the country in the summer of 2014, ISIS was announced territorially defeated in Iraq in 2017, but continues to launch attacks against both civilians and members of the security forces, particularly in Iraq's northern provinces and territory disputed between Baghdad and Erbil.

According to its propaganda agency Amaq, the terror group carried out 1,422 attacks in Iraq in 2020, with the highest number of attacks recorded in Diyala province.

A total of 2,748 people were killed as a result, the agency said earlier this month.