The Islamic State group is claiming responsibility for a truck explosion that killed at least 67 people in northeastern Baghdad on Thursday.
The group is claiming it was targeting Shiite militiamen in the Jameela market in Sadr City. The Islamic State warned that there will be more attacks against the Shiites soon, the Associated Press reported.
One hundred fifty-two people were wounded in the blast after the refrigeration truck that was used for the attack entered the market undetected.
“This is the strongest explosion I’ve ever seen in my life,” said Hassan Hamid, a minibus driver, according to the AP. He was being treated for shrapnel injuries at a nearby hospital. “I saw some cars were thrown into the sky and a fire erupted all over the place.”
The Islamic State detonated the explosives-laden truck so the “rejectionists experience the same harm as their bombardments cause to our Muslim people,” the jihadis tweeted from an affiliated social media account.
Separately, over 20 civilians died when the Iraqi Air Force hit a maternity and children’s hospital in Fallujah, according to BBC News.
Thursday’s blast is one of the deadliest attacks in Baghdad since Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi took office last year.
The Islamic State has been encouraging its supporters on social media to carry out “lone wolf” bomb attacks, and dozens have been killed in bombings throughout the city in recent months.
The U.S. has sent 3,500 advisers and trainers to Iraq, but they have trained only about a third of the goal of 24,000 Iraqi troops, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said.
Speaking Wednesday on whether U.S. military intervention would help Iraq recover, retiring Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno said that if progress is not made, the U.S. should consider embedding U.S. troops with Iraqi soldiers, but “I absolutely believe that the region has to solve this problem. The U.S. cannot solve this problem for the region.”
