Ongoing Isis: Baghdad mall attack dead / injured / hostages

[Anthea]

The Guardian

Isis claims it carried out Baghdad mall attack that leaves 18 dead

Gunmen stormed into a Baghdad mall on Monday after setting off a car bomb and launching a suicide attack at its entrance, killing at least 18 people and wounding 50 in the city’s mainly Shia east, Iraqi officials said. Islamic State claimed responsibility.

The officials initially described the attack as a hostage situation, estimating that 50 people were trapped inside the complex. But Iraqi forces soon surrounded the building and landed troops on the roof. They clashed with the attackers inside, killing two of them, arresting another four and declaring the standoff over.

At least four police were among those killed in the assault, which lasted around an hour and a half, according to the police and medical officials.

Following the attack, authorities shut down the city’s highly fortified Green Zone, home to a number of foreign embassies and most of the country’s political elite. A number of major roads, shopping malls and bridges around the Iraqi capital were also closed for fear of follow-up attacks.

Also on Monday evening, a car bomb in south-east Baghdad in a crowded market area killed five and wounded 12, according to hospital and police officials.

Islamic State often targets the country’s Shia majority with bombs in crowded marketplaces that are designed to kill large numbers of civilians.

Isis controls much of northern and western Iraq, but suffered a major defeat last month when Iraqi forces drove the extremists out of the western city of Ramadi, capital of the sprawling Anbar province.

The extremists’ rampage across Iraq in the summer of 2014 was halted several miles away from Baghdad, but the group has claimed a number of attacks in the heavily guarded capital since then.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/j ... e-hostages

[Anthea]

Rudaw

Gunmen occupy Baghdad shopping mall, killing 10 and taking hostages

Gunmen set off a car bomb before storming a shopping mall in an eastern Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad on Monday, killing at least 10 people and taking hostages, news agency reports said.

Police and medical officials said the gunmen set off the car bomb to open the way for fighters to move into the mall, the Associated Press reported from Baghdad.

It quoted officials as saying another 25 people were wounded in the attack and that three police are among the dead. The officials estimated that 50-75 people remained trapped in the mall.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but the Islamic State group that is at war in Iraq often targets the country's Shiite majority.

The tactics used in the attack – using car bombs to open the way for fighters to storm in and take hostages at facilities ranging from ministries to military bases – has been a favorite tactic of the jihadi groups, across Iraq.

http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/110120162