We must listen to witnesses on the ground who are seeing abuse, duplicity, and the dereliction of duty firsthand. Our lives depend on their voices being heard. The op-ed by Sean Thomas, International Director of Investigations at Animal Equality.
Car bombings rock the centre of Baghdad, killing dozens
Il bilancio provvisorio è di oltre cinquanta morti e altrettanti feriti. L’esplosione in un quartiere sciita di Bagdad, in Iraq.
At least 52 people died in a terror attack in the city of Baghdad, Iraq. A car bomb blast rocked a market in the Shiite district of Sadr City, northern Baghdad, wounding at least 50 people. The death toll could rise again. In fact, the BBC reported 64 people have died.
The country is going through a political crisis
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, which took place at 10 a.m. local time. The Sunni jihadist group have carried out numerous attacks in the Iraqi capital over the past few weeks. This may be a consequence of the fact that it is losing ground against Baghdad’s army.
ISIS’ soldiers probably want to take advantage of the fact that Iraq is going through a severe political crisis. Numerous parties have been opposing Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s project of creating a new technocratic government for weeks. This would end the standard procedure, i.e. assigning key posts in the government depending on parties’ political influence and religion.
741 people died over four months
Despite Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr criticising the government’s conduct, he supports the idea. The Iraqi politician has recently guided a popular movement that led to the invasion of the so called “green zone”, the highly militarised area aimed at protecting national institutions. The Parliament was occupied for a few hours as well.
Meanwhile, people keep suffering the consequences. According to the United Nations, in fact, 714 civilians died in terrorist attacks across the country and 1,374 people were wounded over the first four months of 2016 alone. Earlier in February the government began building a wall around the city to prevent attacks in Baghdad.
Featured image © Ahmad al-Rubaye/Afp/Getty Images
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