Suspects in deadly Baghdad bombing planned more attacks, Iraq says

Kurdish counterterrorism forces on Sunday announced the arrest of one person suspected of involvement in the same attack and handed him over to federal authorities.
Photos of the four suspects. (Photo: Iraqi Ministry of Interior)
Photos of the four suspects. (Photo: Iraqi Ministry of Interior)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Iraqi Ministry of Interior announced the arrest of five men suspected of involvement in a recent bombing in the capital that killed dozens of civilians.

The ministry said in a statement that the five detainees, three of them brothers, planned to launch more attacks during Eid al-Adha.

The incident occurred on the eve of the Eid al-Adha festival on July 19, when a suicide bomber detonated their explosive vest in the sprawling, densely-packed al-Wahailat market in Baghdad's Sadr City.

Read More: At least 35 people killed and wounded in market explosion in Baghdad's Sadr City: Sources

The statement came after Iraqi security forces succeeded in dismantling two "terrorist networks in Anbar and Kirkuk provinces," which they said were responsible for the Sadr City attack.

The statement said that the five detainees "were planning to launch [more] attacks in other areas of Baghdad and other provinces during the Eid holiday."

Kurdistan Region’s General Directorate of Counter-Terrorism (CTD) on Sunday announced the arrest of another suspect in the bombing and handed him over to federal security forces.

The Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi had previously announced the arrest of the "terrorist cell" responsible for the bombing of the crowded market in Baghdad.

On Sunday night, Iraqi television broadcast "confessions” of five suspects, dressed in yellow prison uniforms, who admitted involvement in the deadly attack.

The attack renewed fears of the re-emergence of ISIS, which lost its last territory in Iraq after its territorial defeat in late 2017.

Senior officials in the Kurdistan Region stated on several occasions that ISIS still maintains sleeper cells in remote desert and mountainous areas and the vicinity of the disputed areas.