Dozens killed in Baghdad as Francois Hollande visits Iraq

French president's visit comes as more than 30 people are killed in a car bomb in Sadr City.

Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi, right, greets French President Francois Hollande prior to their meeting in Baghdad. Christophe Ena / AP Photo

BAGHDAD // At least 36 people were killed when a suicide bomber detonated a pickup truck loaded with explosives in a bustling market in Baghdad on Monday.

The attacker struck hours after French President Francois Hollande arrived in the Iraqi capital.

The bomb went off in a fruit and vegetable market that was packed with day labourers, a police officer said, adding that another 52 people were wounded.

Prime minister Haider Al Abadi said the bomber pretended to be a man seeking to hire workers. Once they gathered around, he set off the explosives.

ISIL said it carried out the attack, the third in as many days in and around Baghdad. The extremist group has suffered a string of setbacks elsewhere in the country over the past year, including in and around the northern city of Mosul.

The attack took place in Sadr City, a vast Shiite district in eastern Baghdad that has been repeatedly targeted since the 2003 US-led invasion.

Shiite militiamen were seen removing the bodies in their trucks before ambulances arrived. Dead bodies were scattered across the bloody pavement alongside fruit, vegetables and labourers’ shovels and axes. A minibus filled with dead passengers was on fire.

Asaad Hashim, an owner of a mobile phone store nearby, described how the labourers pushed and shoved around the bomber’s vehicle, trying to get hired.

“Then a big boom came, sending them up into the air,” said the 28-year old, who suffered shrapnel wounds to his right hand. He blamed “the most ineffective security forces in the world” for failing to prevent the attack.

Late last month, Iraqi authorities started removing some of the security checkpoints in Baghdad in a bid to ease traffic for the capital’s 6 million residents.

“We have no idea who will kill at any moment and who’s supposed to protect us,” said Ali Abbas, a 40-year old father of four who was hurled over his vegetable stand by the blast. “If the securities forces can’t protect us, then allow us to do the job,” he added.

Three smaller bombings elsewhere in the city on Monday killed another seven civilians and wounded at least 30, according to medics and police officials. Mr Hollande meanwhile met with Mr Al Abadi and President Fuad Masum, and later travelled to the self-governing northern Kurdish region to meet French troops and local officials. There he pledged support for helping displaced Iraqis return to the city of Mosul, where Iraqi forces are waging a massive offensive against ISIL.

“We must also prepare a political solution for Mosul’s post-liberation so that its inhabitants can live together,” he said.

France is part of the American-led coalition formed in 2014 to fight ISIL after the extremist group seized large areas in Iraq and neighbouring Syria. France has suffered multiple attacks claimed by the extremist group.

*Associated Press