A suicide bomber driving a pickup loaded with explosives struck a bustling market in Baghdad today, killing at least 36 people in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group (ISIS) hours after French President Francois Hollande arrived in the Iraqi capital.
The bomb went off in a fruit and vegetable market that was packed with day labourers, police said, adding that another 52 people were wounded.
During a press conference with Hollande, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the bomber pretended to be a man seeking to hire day labourers.
Once the workers gathered around, he detonated the vehicle. ISIS claimed the attack in a statement circulated on a militant website often used by the extremists. It was the third ISIS-claimed attack in as many days in and around Baghdad, underscoring the lingering threat posed by the group despite a string of setbacks elsewhere in the country over the past year, including in and around the northern city of Mosul.
The attack took place in Sadr City, a vast Shia district in eastern Baghdad that has been repeatedly targeted by Sunni extremists since the 2003 US-led invasion.