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DUHOK, Kurdistan Region — Ghazi Hazim was one of the victims of Thursday's twin suicide bombings claimed by the Islamic State (ISIS) group in the Iraqi capital.
A resident of Duhok, the Kurdish trader would travel to Baghdad to sell food products, most notably honey.
He was on one of his trips away from his family, when he and 31 other people were killed in blasts in central Baghdad's Tayaran Square. At least 110 others were injured in the blasts, according to Iraq's health ministry.
"He regularly travelled to Baghdad for work [selling Kurdish honey]. He would visit Baghdad to make his family's ends meet, to make a living, said Gulizar Hazim, Ghazi's sister. "He used to sell them and then come back home. He used to stay there for a few days or weeks. This time he went and never came back."
Two suicide bombers belonging to ISIS detonated explosive belts in the crowded square, the group confirmed via its propaganda telegram channels late on Thursday. It said the second bomber struck as people gathered after the first explosion.
The first attacker claimed to feel sick, attracting a crowd of helpers before detonating his explosive device, according to the interior ministry.
ISIS claimed on Thursday in its weekly propaganda newspaper al-Naba that it had killed and injured at least 40 people in 30 operations in Iraq from January 15 to January 21.
In an emergency meeting shortly after the bombing, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi dismissed and reshuffled several security and intelligence officials responsible for security in the area where the attack took place, not far from the capital’s Green Zone.
Five senior officials were dismissed or moved from their positions, according to details later tweeted by military spokesperson Yehia Rasool.
Iraqi President Barham Salih condemned Thursday’s double suicide bombing as a “rogue attempt” to destabilize the country, which is in the midst of economic and political turmoil.
After seizing swathes of the country in the summer of 2014, ISIS was announced territorially defeated in Iraq in 2017, but continues to launch attacks against both civilians and members of the security forces, particularly in Iraq's northern provinces and territory disputed between Baghdad and Erbil.
According to its propaganda agency Amaq, the terror group carried out 1,422 attacks in Iraq in 2020, with the highest number of attacks recorded in Diyala province.
A total of 2,748 people were killed as a result, the agency said earlier this month.
A resident of Duhok, the Kurdish trader would travel to Baghdad to sell food products, most notably honey.
He was on one of his trips away from his family, when he and 31 other people were killed in blasts in central Baghdad's Tayaran Square. At least 110 others were injured in the blasts, according to Iraq's health ministry.
"He regularly travelled to Baghdad for work [selling Kurdish honey]. He would visit Baghdad to make his family's ends meet, to make a living, said Gulizar Hazim, Ghazi's sister. "He used to sell them and then come back home. He used to stay there for a few days or weeks. This time he went and never came back."
Two suicide bombers belonging to ISIS detonated explosive belts in the crowded square, the group confirmed via its propaganda telegram channels late on Thursday. It said the second bomber struck as people gathered after the first explosion.
The first attacker claimed to feel sick, attracting a crowd of helpers before detonating his explosive device, according to the interior ministry.
ISIS claimed on Thursday in its weekly propaganda newspaper al-Naba that it had killed and injured at least 40 people in 30 operations in Iraq from January 15 to January 21.
In an emergency meeting shortly after the bombing, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi dismissed and reshuffled several security and intelligence officials responsible for security in the area where the attack took place, not far from the capital’s Green Zone.
Five senior officials were dismissed or moved from their positions, according to details later tweeted by military spokesperson Yehia Rasool.
Iraqi President Barham Salih condemned Thursday’s double suicide bombing as a “rogue attempt” to destabilize the country, which is in the midst of economic and political turmoil.
After seizing swathes of the country in the summer of 2014, ISIS was announced territorially defeated in Iraq in 2017, but continues to launch attacks against both civilians and members of the security forces, particularly in Iraq's northern provinces and territory disputed between Baghdad and Erbil.
According to its propaganda agency Amaq, the terror group carried out 1,422 attacks in Iraq in 2020, with the highest number of attacks recorded in Diyala province.
A total of 2,748 people were killed as a result, the agency said earlier this month.
Reporting by Hunar Rashid
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