Baghdad cheers end of decade-long curfew despite deadly bombings
Residents celebrate being allowed out past midnight after a decade of restrictions, but deadly bomb attacks by Islamic State cast pall
Baghdad's decade-old nightly curfew ended after midnight yesterday, hours after bombs exploded in and around the Iraqi capital, killing at least 40 people in a stark warning of the dangers still ahead in this country under attack by the Islamic State group.
Iraqis roared through central Baghdad in dozens of cars flying flags, honking horns and filling the street with smoke from screeching tyres during the first night in years residents could stay out as late as they wished.
The celebration came after Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi ordered an end to the curfew that had most recently lasted from midnight to 5.00am.
But the celebration was marred by bomb attacks on Saturday. The deadliest bombing happened in the capital's New Baghdad neighbourhood, where a suicide bomber detonated his explosives in a street filled with hardware stores and a restaurant, killing 22 people, police said.
"The restaurant was full of young people, children and women when the suicide bomber blew himself up," witness Mohamed Saeed said. "Many got killed."
The Islamic State group later claimed responsibility for the attack, saying their bomber targeted Shiites, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, a US-based terrorism monitor. The Sunni extremist militants now hold a third of both Iraq and neighbouring Syria in their self-declared caliphate.