ISIS has claimed responsibility for the two attacks that shook Baghdad on Sunday. According to reports, the incidents, which involved suicide bombers and mass shootings, caused the deaths of at least 70 individuals.
CNBC reported that the first attack happened in a market in Sadr City, which mainly sells mobile devices. Local authorities said the suicide bombers entered the area while riding motorcycles before blowing themselves up. Aside from the vast number of fatalities, the explosions also injured over a hundred people.
Then, on the same day, ISIS militants attacked the security forces stationed in Abu Ghraib. Reports indicate that members of the extremist group were able to take over certain positions at a grain silo and a cemetery and killed 17 people.
Following the incidents, ISIS issued a statement to confirm its responsibility for the attacks.
"Our swords will not cease to cut off the heads of the rejectionist polytheists, wherever they are," the group said in a statement according to the Guardian.
Authorities noted that the attacks mainly targeted Shi'ite Muslims and civilians.
Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said that ISIS fighters may have resorted to violence against civilians due to its recent defeats at the hands of both government and international forces.
"This gang targeted civilians after it lost the initiative and its dregs fled the battlefield before our proud fighters," he said in a statement according to Reuters via Huffington Post.
In response to the latest incidents, local authorities have implemented a curfew in Abu Ghraib. This is to prevent civilians from getting caught in the cross-fire as elite-counter terrorist forces move in to retake the positions seized by the militants.
Also, the Iraqi army also carried out bombing operations via helicopters at locations known to serve as hideouts and stations of the members of ISIS. According to Brigadier General Saad Maan, the spokesperson for the Interior Ministry, about 20 ISIS fighters have been killed in the operations.
