“While his Eminence strongly condemns this bombing, his Eminence calls on our people in the Sadr City to be patient, control themselves and take away the opportunity from the enemies who take advantage of chances to jump on any improvement in the security or political situation,” read a statement from Sadr’s office.
Two explosions occurred on Wednesday night in the Sadr City district of Baghdad near a Shiite mosque. Reuters reported at least 18 people were killed and more than 90 were wounded.
An initial government statement said there was a weapons cache in Sadr city.
Separately, state television cited a ministry spokesperson as saying the explosion was “a terrorist aggression on civilians.”
Sadr has ordered the formation of a committee to look into the reasons of the bombing. The committee is set to send its report back to Sadr within three days.
Iraq has seen relatively fewer explosions, and the security situation in the capital generally has improved since the end of the war against ISIS.
Sadr’s Sayirun list prevailed in the parliamentary election on May 12. The outspoken Shiite cleric pooled support from his Sadr Movement followers and the Communist Party of Iraq.
Sadr commanded Saraya al-Salam, a revival of the Mahdi Army, during the ISIS conflict. It was part of the Hashd al-Shaabi.
The communist party’s headquarters in Baghdad were targeted in May by two homemade bombs.
