On January 2, 2017, at least three suicide car bombings took place in a
Shia Muslim eastern district of
Sadr City, as well as behind the Kindi and Imam Ali hospitals, killing 56 people and injuring more than 120 others.
Haider al-Abadi, Iraq's prime minister, had informed in a news conference that the suicide bombing, in Sadr City's busy market, was operated by the suicide bomber who detonated a vehicle with explosives. The bomber had pretended to hire day labourers in the market; once labourers gathered near the vehicle, the vehicle was detonated by him.[1] The
French PresidentFrançois Hollande was in the city during the attacks.[2][3]
Responsibility
The jihadist group
Islamic State claimed the responsibility of attacks, with a targeted attack on a "gathering of Shia".[4]