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Thousands rally in Baghdad in support of Shiite cleric Suicide bomber hits stadium in Iraqi city, killing 29
(about 7 hours later)
BAGHDAD — Thousands have rallied in Baghdad in support of firebrand Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr who has taken the lead role in protests demanding government reforms. BAGHDAD — A suicide bomber blew himself up in a soccer stadium south of the Iraqi capital on Friday, killing 29 people and wounding 60, security officials said, as the military announced new gains on the ground against the Islamic State group.
Al-Sadr’s associate, Sheik Asad al-Nasiri, delivered a message from the cleric at a rally on Friday in the Iraqi capital, giving Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi 24 hours to implement wide-ranging reforms such as installing technocrats in key political positions. The bombing took place during a match in the small stadium in the city of Iskanderiyah, 30 miles (50 kilometers) from Baghdad, the officials said. Medical officials confirmed the death toll. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.
Otherwise, the message says, the protesters will not limit themselves to sit-ins outside the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, where the government is headquartered and where al-Sadr’s followers demonstrated last week. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the Islamic State group has been waging a campaign of suicide bombings in and around the capital as Iraqi forces and their allies battle the militants in the north and west of the country.
The weekly rallies in Baghdad are meant to pressure Iraq’s political leadership. The bombing came as Iraqi military spokesman Yahya Rusoul announced that Iraqi troops and Sunni tribal fighters recaptured the town of Kubeisa in western Anbar province from the Islamic State group. A day earlier, IS fighters were pushed out of a string of villages in Iraq’s northern Nineveh province under cover of heavy coalition airstrikes.
Al-Abadi’s efforts to implement reform have been thwarted by his own political missteps as well as the country’s increasingly sectarian politics. Iraqi ground forces are working to build on recent gains in Anbar and prepare for an eventual push on the northern city of Mosul, the largest city held by the militants in the “caliphate” they declared across parts of Iraq and Syria. The U.S.-led coalition estimates that IS has lost 40 percent of the territory it once held in Iraq and around 20 percent of its territory in Syria.
Analysts and coalition officials say they expect that as it loses ground on the battlefield, it will turn to more insurgent style attacks in Iraq and internationally. On Tuesday, bombings in Brussels claimed by IS killed 31 people and injured nearly 300.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.