Five car bombs detonated in the Iraqi capital on Monday, marking a bloody start to the year as Iraq attempts to squeeze Islamic State militants from their last remaining territory in the country.
Sixty-four people were killed in the attacks, according to a security official from Baghdad Operations Command, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the death toll.
The worst bombing killed 30 people in a market in the Sadr City area of Baghdad, a largely Shiite neighborhood that is a regular target for the Islamic State. The attacker was driving an explosives-laden pickup truck and pretended to be recruiting day laborers, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said at a news conference. He waited for them to crowd around the vehicle and then set off the bomb.
The Islamic State asserted responsibility via the affiliated Amaq news agency.
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