Senior Iraqi cleric slams government over insecurity

Prominent Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has criticized the government for security failures following a string of bombings that hit in and around the capital Baghdad,

According to the reports, at least 77 people were killed and more than 140 wounded by three bombings in Baghdad on Tuesday. One of the bombings struck a crowded market in the Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad, leaving at least 30 dead and 57 wounded.

The attacks “are the clearest evidence that your government has become unable to protect and provide you with security,” Sadr said in a statement on Tuesday.

Following the attack, hundreds of fighters loyal to Sadr were reportedly deployed in Sadr City and five other Shia-dominated areas where the worst of the recent violence has been centered.

The Takfiri Daesh terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attack in Sadr city as well as a bombing in the northern district of al-Shaab, which killed 41 people and wounded more than 70 others.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi reportedly ordered the arrest of the official in charge of al-Shaab's security, his office said in a statement, without giving a reason.

More than 200 people have been killed in the new wave of bombings in and around Baghdad over the past week.

SS