Iraqi PM Fires Security Officials Over IS-Claimed Bombing

CAIRO - Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Khadhimi has fired security officials after 34 people were killed and over 50 others wounded, according to Iraqi media, in an explosion Monday night. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack which Iraqi security officials say was committed by a suicide bomber.

A crowd of mostly women shoppers ran for cover amid screaming and yelling, following the explosion at a crowded clothing market in Baghdad's mostly Shi'ite Sadr City. It was the third such attack in Iraq this year. Another attack in Sadr City in January left around 30 dead. A group of young men dressed in black loaded coffins onto vehicles in preparation for burial Tuesday morning. A middle-aged woman dressed in black bewailed some of the young victims of the explosion. A young man with a yellow cap complained on social media that attacks on markets targeting civilians are all too common in Iraq before major religious holidays, like Eid al-Adha, which began Tuesday.