ISIS Claims Deadliest Single Attack To Hit Baghdad This Year

ISIS claimed responsibility for a suicide blast that killed at least 80 people in Baghdad early on Sunday. It was the deadliest single attack to strike the Iraqi capital yet in 2016.

In a statement released early on Sunday, the terror group said
a suicide bomber identified as Abu Maha al-Iraqi detonated a car bomb in Karrada, a district in the center of Baghdad. In the statement, ISIS said the attack was part of its “ongoing security operation” in the Iraqi capital, and vowed to “never stop the attacks of the Mujahideen against the Shiites.”
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The attack came just days after ISIS was officially defeated in—and pushed out of—the Iraqi city of Fallujah, where ISIS militants established bomb-making factories that officials have said were used for attacks in Baghdad.

According to reports, Sunday’s explosion targeted an area where many locals shop before Eid al-Fitr, a holiday that will start later this week and concludes the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Iraqi social media accounts posted images showing the moments after the explosion and the aftermath of the car bomb. They also posted graphic images of victims, including young children social media users said were injured in the attack.