Authorities in Iraq say the death toll from a double bombing at a market in Baghdad’s Shi’ite neighborhood of Sadr City rose to 73 on February 29 after several critically wounded victims died overnight.
Five people remained missing and 112 people were still hospitalized on February 29, one day after a blast ripped through the crowded Mredi market and a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-filled vest amid a crowd that had gathered to help victims of the first blast.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi called on security forces to "exert further efforts to prevent the terrorists from carrying out their crimes against innocent civilians."
The February 28 double bombing came hours after Islamic State suicide bombers and gunmen attacked a government compound for security forces in Baghdad's western suburb of Abu Ghraib, just five kilometers from the strategic Baghdad International Airport.
At least 12 government and paramilitary soldiers were killed and 35 others wounded in that attack.