Reuters, Baghdad :
A series of explosions killed 28 people and wounded more than 40 at a Shi’ite political organization’s rally in Iraq on Friday, police and medical sources said.
The militant group Asaib Ahl Haq (League of the Righteous) was presenting its candidates for elections on April 30 at the rally in eastern Baghdad. Three bombs exploded in succession as people were leaving, Reuters reporters at the scene said.
A roadside bomb went off near the main gate, followed by a suicide car bomb after a few minutes and then a final explosion.
Al Qaeda offshoot the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on the Internet. The group said it had carried out the bombings in response to “murder, torture and displacement” of Sunnis by Shi’ite militias which “massacred children and women”.
The attack came as tensions ran high in Iraq in the runup to a national election on April 30 and as the Iraqi security forces are locked in a four-month battle with ISIL in western Anbar province.
It appeared to be the work of ISIL aimed at baiting the group to strike Sunni neighborhoods or communities in hopes of provoking a full-fledged civil war.
Asaib’s main leader Sheik Qais Khazaali had just delivered a speech accusing some politicians of aiding terrorism and vowed his movement was ready for any action by ISIL.
“To all ISIL … we are ready. We are prepared,” he said. “We are the defenders of this country. You will never reach us.”
He added: “If ISIL is the sickness, were are the medicine.”
As people started to leave the stadium, the first bomb exploded. Grey smoke rose in the air and people ran or scrambled for cover. The a white mini-van raced to the stadium’s main gate and detonated, unleashing a massive ball of fire.
