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The SUV packed
with explosives went off near a beauty salon in a bustling
market at rush hour in Sadr City. Most of the victims were women
and many of the wounded are in critical condition, the sources
said.
Amaq news agency, which supports Islamic State, said a suicide
bomber had targeted Shi'ite militia fighters.
The ultra-hardline Sunni jihadist group, which considers
Shi'ites apostates, claimed a twin suicide bombing in Sadr City
in February that killed 70 people.
Security has gradually improved in Baghdad, which was the target
of daily bombings a decade ago, but violence directed against
both the security forces and civilians is still frequent and
large blasts sometimes set off reprisal attacks.
The fight against Islamic State has exacerbated a long-running
sectarian conflict in Iraq, mostly between the Shi'ite majority
and the Sunni minority.
Sectarian violence also threatens to undermine U.S.-backed
efforts to dislodge the militant group from vast areas of the
north and west of Iraq that they seized in 2014.
(Reporting by Kareem Raheem and by Ali Abdelaty in CAIRO;
Editing by Louise Ireland)
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