Suicide bombings in Samawa, Iraq admist civil unrest

Suicide bombings in Iraq’s southern city of Samawa, 155 miles south of Baghdad, once again rocked the country this Sunday amidst already tense civil protests. The blast killed 32 people and wounded 73 others, including women and children. Shortly after, ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement made on twitter. The statement included a detailed description of the execution of the attacks stating that the assailant “blew up his car in the middle of a gathering of the Shiite Ministry of Interior Special Forces (al-Maghaweer forces). He killed and wounded a number of them.” After Shiite firefighters and policemen arrived at the scene, a second car explosion went off and killed more victims.

The initial explosion was set off near government office buildings and the second followed some 60 meters away near a bus stop. The double car explosion set debris into the air and huge flames created smoke clouds in the sky. It is expected that the death toll should rise as firefighters continue to clear the scene. Unverified photographs show the remnants of the exploded cars as well as the burnt bodies of civilians on the ground.

The attack occurred in the midst of heated protests by civilians in Iraq’s Green Zone, the international zone of Baghdad that historically has been off limits to normal Iraqi’s. The protestors who had stormed the citadel retreated on Sunday after their Shiite cleric leader, Moktada al-Sadr, mandated it so as to preserve the honor of the 8^th century imam Moussa al-Kadhim. The protestors chanted for government transparency and an end to corruption through the resignation of the President, Prime Minister, and speaker.

Iraq’s internal turmoil and terrorist attacks were echoed in its northern neighbor Turkey, who on Sunday also suffered an ISIS-claimed car bomb attack that left two dead and 22 injured.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/01/middleeast/iraq-violence/index.html

http://www.ibtimes.com/after-isis-suicide-bombing-attack-iraq-samawa-death-toll-expected-grow-2362307

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iraq-car-bombings-isis-claims-responsibility-after-two-blasts-latest-info-in-city-of-samawa-a7008811.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/02/world/middleeast/iraq-protesters-leave-baghdad-green-zone-on-clerics-order

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/isis-attacks-kill-32-southern-iraq-bombing-turkey-kills-two-n565496

 

Scores Killed by Suicide Bomb in Pakistan—NYT

A suicide attack on a historic church in northwestern Pakistan killed at least 78 people on Sunday in one of the deadliest attacks on the country’s Christian minority  in years. The attack occurred as worshipers left a church service in the old quarter of the regional capital, Peshawar. Up to 600 people were leaving when two explosions ripped through the crowd. Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, who arrived in Peshawar on Sunday evening, said that 78 people had been killed, including 34 women and 7 children. Akhtar Ali Shah, the home secretary of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, said that more than 100 people had been wounded. Mr. Khan said that 37 of those were children. Witnesses reported mayhem as rescue workers ferried victims from the church, which was scattered with body parts, shrapnel and bloodied clothing. Read more here.