11 May 2016•Update: 12 May 2016
By Haydar Hadi
BAGHDAD
The death toll from Wednesday’s car-bomb attack in Baghdad’s predominantly-Shia Sadr City district -- responsibility for which has since been claimed by the Daesh terrorist group -- has risen to 56, local medical sources have said.
Ali Jaasim, an assistant doctor at Sadr City’s Imam Ali Hospital, also said the number of injured had risen to 78.
In a statement, the army’s Baghdad Operations Command said the attack had targeted a crowded marketplace.
Daesh, speaking via a group-affiliated website, said the attack had been carried out by one of its suicide bombers, who it identified as Abu Sulaiyman al-Ansari.
In recent years, bombings and shooting attacks, which often target civilians, have become a common occurrence in war-torn Iraq, especially capital Baghdad.
Iraq has suffered a devastating security vacuum since 2014, when Daesh overran Mosul -- the country’s second largest city -- before going on to capture additional territory in Iraq and Syria.
* Anadolu Agency correspondent Sibel Ugurlu contributed to this report from Ankara
