On Monday January 15, 2018, two suicide bombings took place at al-Tayaran Square of

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...

, killing 36 people and injuring more than 105 others, attacks later claimed by the

jihadist Jihadism is a neologism which is used in reference to "militant Islamic movements that are perceived as existentially threatening to the West" and "rooted in political Islam."Compare: Appearing earlier in the Pakistani and Indian media, Wes ...

group Islamic State (IS).

Attacks

On Monday January 15, 2018, two suicide bombings took place at al-Tayaran Square of Baghdad, killing 36 people and injuring more than 105 others. The attackers struck during rush hour in the city's Tayran Square, which is usually crowded by laborers seeking work. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but it bore all the hallmarks of the Islamic State group, which has claimed many such attacks in the past.

Responsibility claim

Two days later (on Wednesday January 17, 2018) the

group Islamic State (IS) "claimed responsibility for the twin suicide bombings in Baghdad this week", though the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' suggested that the delay, and a number of errors in the claim, may show that the group's "media apparatus has been disrupted". According to the ''New York Times'', which relied on a translation of the IS statement provided by

SITE Intelligence Group SITE Intelligence Group is an American non-governmental organization that tracks online activity of white supremacist and jihadist organizations. It is based in Bethesda, Maryland. From 2002 to 2008, SITE Intelligence Group was known as the Se ...

, the IS claim's errors included that the attack "had occurred at Aden Square in Baghdad, where the police said an attack was foiled on Saturday, rather than in Tayaran Square, where Monday’s explosions took place", and that IS "said that there were three attackers, not two ... and said that the first two detonated their explosive vests in quick succession, while the third hit another gathering in the same area sometime after the first two explosions". IS referred to "the open-air market that was attacked as a gathering of ' rafidha' and of '

polytheists Polytheism is the belief in multiple deities, which are usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses, along with their own religious sects and rituals. Polytheism is a type of theism. Within theism, it contrasts with monotheism, the ...

', two words they use to refer to

Shiite Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, most ...

Muslims in a

derogatory A pejorative or slur is a word or grammatical form expressing a negative or a disrespectful connotation, a low opinion, or a lack of respect toward someone or something. It is also used to express criticism, hostility, or disregard. Sometimes, a ...

manner".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baghdad bombings 2018 murders in Iraq Suicide bombings in 2018 Islamic State insurgency in Iraq (2017–present) 21st-century mass murder in Iraq 2010s in Baghdad ISIL terrorist incidents in Iraq Islamic terrorist incidents in 2018 January 2018 crimes in Asia Mass murder in 2018 Mass murder in Iraq Suicide car and truck bombings in Iraq Suicide bombings in Baghdad 2018-01 Terrorist incidents in Iraq in 2018