| January 15, 2018 Baghdad bombings | |
|---|---|
| Part of theISIL insurgency in Iraq (2017–present) | |
  Baghdad Baghdad (Iraq) | |
| Location | Baghdad,Iraq |
| Date | 15 January 2018 (2018-01-15) |
| Target | Civilians |
Attack type | Suicide bombings |
| Deaths | 38 (including 2 attackers) |
| Injured | 105+ |
| Perpetrators |  Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant |
On Monday January 15, 2018, twosuicide bombings took place at al-Tayaran Square ofBaghdad, killing 36 people and injuring more than 105 others. These attacks were later claimed by thejihadist groupIslamic State (IS).
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.[1] 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.[2]
Two days later (on Wednesday January 17, 2018) thejihadist groupIslamic State (IS) "claimed responsibility for the twin suicide bombings in Baghdad this week", though theNew York Times suggested that the delay, and a number of errors in the claim, may show that the group's "media apparatus has been disrupted".[3]According to theNew York Times, which relied on a translation of the IS statement provided bySITE Intelligence Group, 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".[3] IS referred to "the open-air market that was attacked as a gathering of 'rafidha' and of 'polytheists', two words they use to refer toShiite Muslims in aderogatory manner".[3]