BAGHDAD, Iraq — The toll in a twin suicide bombing in an open-air Baghdad market on Thursday morning topped 20 dead and 40 wounded, an interior ministry official told AFP.
The ministry said the first suicide bomber had rushed into the market and claimed to feel sick, so that people would gather around him. He then detonated his explosives.
As people gathered around the victims, a second attacker detonated his bomb, the ministry's statement said.
Medical sources told AFP they feared the death toll could be twice as high as officially announced. The health ministry said it had mobilised medics across the capital to respond to the deadly attack.
Military spokesman Yahya Rasool said two suicide bombers detonated their explosives as they were being pursued by security forces.
An AFP reporter at the scene said the bombers had struck a huge open-air market for second-hand clothes in Tayaran Square.
It had been teeming with people following nearly a year of restrictions imposed in a bid to halt the spread of COVID-19.
Security forces cordoned off the area and paramedics were working to help the casualties. — Sabah Arar