Yesterday’s massive ISIS bombings in Sadr City’s cellphone market meant a lot of funerals today, and ISIS was quick to double down on its attacks, hitting a funeral in Muqdadiya attended by a number of Shi’ite militia leaders, killing at least 40 people including six commanders.
The slain included two local commanders from the Badr Brigade, and four more from Asaib Ahl al-Haq, another faction in the Hashid Shaabi, an umbrella group of Shi’ite militias that are fighting alongside the government against ISIS.
It wasn’t ISIS’ only attack, either, as they also targeted a military checkpoint on the outskirts of Baghdad, killing at least eight troops there. Between the two bombings, at least 58 people were wounded, many of them seriously so.
The situation in Diyala Province’s Muqdadiya is still tense after the bombing, with large numbers of Shi’ite militia forces in the streets now patrolling, but very few Iraqi troops, bolstering recent reports that the Iraqi military is being spread thin by its attempt to build up around Mosul.