At least 36 victims in a suicide bombing in Baghdad: "I dare not tell him that his daughter is dead"

"It is I who deposited them, it is me…", repeats between two sobs Imad Jawad.

When the 41-year-old policeman sent his son Kayan and his wife Houda to shop for Eid, he didn't know he was seeing them for the last time.

The suicide bombing in a Baghdad market claimed his family on Monday, along with dozens of other lives.

Next to him, in the tent where relatives come to offer their condolences, another of his sons, Ali, aged around ten, remains silent and wise, in a state of shock in the aftermath of the tragedy.

Houda and Kayan are among some 36 people killed in the attack claimed by the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) on Monday in the al-Woheilat market in Sadr City, a huge deprived Shiite suburb east of Baghdad. On the eve of Eid, the most important Muslim holiday, the market was packed. It all turned into horror and chaos within seconds, when an IS suicide bomber detonated his explosive belt.

“I rushed over as soon as I heard the news.

First at the market, then at the hospital, ”says Imad.

“I didn't dare go to the hospital morgue.

After frantic research, a doctor confirms the death of his wife and son.

“I washed Kayan with my hands.

His stomach and legs were riddled with shards ”from the explosion, Jawad continued with difficulty.

“He was the light of my life.

No one will be able to replace them, him and his mother, ”he adds.

Kayan adored Eid, “he changed his clothes during the four days of the festival,” says his grandfather.

“Today we're going to bury her in her beautiful clothes.

"

"They had gone to buy clothes for Eid"

At Sadr City General Hospital, where most of the injured were transported (around 50 according to medical sources), Nawras, a 25-year-old woman, watches over Saberin, her cousin injured in the explosion.

The latter does not yet know that her 16-year-old daughter, Aya, died in the attack.

“We didn't know they were at the market, her, her daughter and her one-and-a-half-year-old son.

They had gone to buy clothes for Eid, ”says Nawras.

Aya died instantly, and her little brother was hospitalized with severe burns.

"I dare not tell him that his daughter is dead," breathes the young woman.

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Fractures, burns, wounds requiring surgical interventions… Doctor Ali Faysal Nayef, emergency doctor, lists the ailments that he must take care of at the general hospital of Sadr City, already dilapidated and degraded, which is struggling to face the influx of wounded.

Many children are among the victims.

"I myself had to announce the deaths of two children, one six years old and the other eight," said the doctor.

A four-month-old baby is also among the dead.

Bushra has lost two of her nephews, while three others are in serious condition.

She says that her sister, the mother of the children, learned the news in the early evening on Monday, when she saw one of her sons arriving, burnt, haggard, shouting: "they are dead", speaking of his brothers, killed in the attack.

Prime Minister promises those responsible for the attack will be prosecuted

In a statement Tuesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kazimi promised that "terrorism will not go unpunished", and that "the perpetrators will be prosecuted wherever they hide".

"The criminals, with their desperate actions, want to create chaos", he added, before assuring that "this cowardly attack illustrates the failure of the terrorists to regain a foothold (in Iraq) after being defeated by our heroic security forces ”.

The attack comes as Mr. Kazimi is expected in Washington at the weekend to meet Joe Biden, and in a deliquescent political context a few months before the legislative elections scheduled for October.

“As the elections approach, terrorist operations aim to send the message that the Iraqi political system is fragile and failing.

The attack intends to prove that the organization (IS) still exists and is able to reach its targets in Baghdad, ”said the president of the Iraqi Association of Political Sciences, Ossama Saidi.

ISIS, which controlled large portions of Iraqi territory between 2014 and 2017, was officially defeated by Iraqi troops backed by an international anti-jihadist coalition led by the United States.

But IS cells are still present in the country, especially in mountainous and desert areas, and claim ad hoc attacks.

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Already in January, an attack perpetrated by two suicide bombers in a Baghdad market killed 32 people, and was claimed by ISIS.

In April, a civilian was killed in an explosion in Sadr City, but authorities never confirmed that it was an attack.

And in May, unclaimed attacks attributed to ISIS targeted soldiers, especially near Baghdad, killing 18 people.

Reactions have multiplied, the UN in Iraq deploring a "horrible attack", France condemning "with the greatest firmness the heinous attack".

Russian President Vladimir Poutine sent a message to his Iraqi counterpart Barham Saleh, denouncing a "cynical and cruel" attack.

Tehran for its part condemned "a barbaric act" and "the grim repetition of terrorist scenarios in Iraq".