Iraq says militants planned other attacks during holiday

BAGHDAD — The militants believed to be behind last week's deadly suicide bombing of a Baghdad market had planned more attacks during the Eid Al Adha festival, Iraq's interior ministry said on Sunday.

The ministry released photos of five suspects arrested, including three brothers, after last Monday's attack that, according to the official toll, killed 30 people and was claimed by the Daesh terror group.

Iraqi security forces have dismantled "two terrorist networks in Baghdad's provinces of Anbar and Kirkuk responsible for the July 19 attack in Sadr City.

"They were planning other attacks in other parts of Baghdad and other provinces during Eid," a ministry statement said.

Later Sunday, authorities in the autonomous Kurdistan region said they had detained another suspect following a request from Baghdad, bringing the number of arrests to six.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Kadhemi announced on Saturday the arrest of the "terror cell" behind the Baghdad market bombing.

Iraqi television broadcast overnight the "confessions" of five suspects, who were dressed in yellow prison suits, a common practice in major criminal cases in Iraq.

The attack sparked revulsion and renewed fears about the reach of Daesh, which lost its last territory in Iraq after a gruelling campaign that ended in late 2017, but retains sleeper cells in remote desert and mountain areas.

The bombing hit the Al Woheilat market in Sadr City, where many families were crowded on the eve of the Eid Al Adha, the most important Muslim holiday.

The announcement of the dismantling of the cell came on the eve of Kadhemi’s departure for Washington, where he was to meet US President Joe Biden on Monday.

The Iraqi prime minister, under heavy pressure from powerful pro-Iranian factions in his country, is hoping for a substantial announcement on the withdrawal of US troops in Iraq.

Some 2,500 US troops are deployed to assist Iraqi forces in the fight against Daesh, which controlled large parts of Iraqi territory between 2014 and 2017.

It has been officially defeated, but its sleeper cells still carry out occasional attacks.

In January, a suicide bombing claimed by Daesh killed 32 people in a Baghdad market.