ISIL claims deadly truck bombing at Baghdad market

AT LEAST 59 people have been killed after a truck bomb exploded in north-eastern Baghdad, Iraqi officials say.

The blast tore through the crowded Jameela market in the predominantly Shia district of Sadr City.

The Sunni jihadist group, Islamic State (IS), said it was behind the bombing and that it targeted Shia militiamen.

Meanwhile, medics say more than 20 civilians died when bombs dropped by the Iraqi air force hit a maternity and children’s hospital in Falluja.

The city lies west of Baghdad and has been controlled by IS since January 2014.
The violence comes after a top American general said the U.S. should consider embedding American troops with Iraqi forces if progress was not made in the fight against IS.

Raymond Odierno, the army’s outgoing chief of staff, told reporters that such forces would have a support rather than a combat role.

Yesterday’s bomb attack in Sadr City was one of the deadliest in the capital since Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi took office a year ago.

In a statement posted on Twitter, IS said the truck bomb targeted Shia militiamen from the Mahdi Army and the Popular Mobilisation forces, who have been battling the jihadist group in northern and western Iraq for more than a year.

Sadr City has been the target of several bomb attacks this year claimed by IS militants, who consider Shia to be heretics.

Dozens of people have been killed in bombings across Baghdad in recent months.