BAGHDAD — A truck bombing claimed by Daesh (the so-called IS) group killed nearly 60 people in a Shiite-majority area of Baghdad Thursday, in the deadliest single attack to hit the city in months.



The blast, which was likely aimed at undermining confidence in the government and stoking sectarian tensions, came after the outgoing US army chief warned that reconciliation in Iraq is becoming increasingly difficult and that the country may ultimately have to be partitioned. The bomb went off in a wholesale vegetable market in the Sadr City area of north Baghdad at around 6 a.m. (0300 GMT), peak time for shops buying vegetables for the day. A police colonel said 38 bodies and the remains of nearly 12 more people had been found. A medical official gave an even higher toll, saying 69 people had died. Medics collected human remains at the scene of the blast, an AFP photographer said.



The bombing devastated the market, ripping through buildings, killing horses used to transport vegetables, burning vehicles and leaving large amounts of produce scattered on the ground. Daesh claimed responsibility for what it termed the “blessed operation” in a statement posted online. — AFP