At least half a dozen fatalities and counting, and upto about thirty casualties have been record as a twin suicide bomb attack hit a crowded market in Iraq’s capital city Baghdad this morning.
Security forces say they pursued the two attackers before they blew themselves up in a rare suicide attack, the first to strike the capital in nearly two years. The city has seen almost no such bombings since the military defeat of Islamic State in Iraq in 2017.
Iraqi state television reported that the attack caught shoppers by surprise in the busy market near Tayaran square adding that there were “dead and wounded” without giving any figures.
Brigadier-General Hazem al-Azzawi, the director of Baghdad Operations Command, told the Iraq News Agency (INA) that a “double explosion” hit a crowded market in the Bab al-Sharji area near Tayaran Square.
The Operations Command said two suicide bombers detonated their explosives at an outdoor market for second-hand clothing.
According to three police officials, seven people have been killed in the attack so far and more than 25 others wounded. CNN has since reported that the death toll has risen to 13.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
They also said the death toll from the attack could rise as some wounded people were in a critical condition.
