The Islamist 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 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 Islamic State group.

Iraqi security forces have dismantled "two terrorist networks in the provinces of Anbar and Kirkuk responsible for the July 19 attack in Sadr City", a poor Shiite district of Baghdad.

"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 al-Kadhemi announced 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 IS, 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 IS, 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 the IS killed 32 people in a Baghdad market.

Iraqi activist's son found shot dead
Baghdad (AFP) July 25, 2021 –

The son of a prominent Iraqi rights activist was found shot dead in the country's south after he went missing a day earlier, a medical source and activists said Sunday.

The body of 26-year-old Ali Karim, who was "kidnapped" by unidentified assailants on Friday, was found 24 hours later west of the city of Basra, according to relatives speaking to Iraqi media before his funeral.

A medical source told AFP Karim had been shot in the head and chest.

His mother, Fatima al-Bahadly, founded the Al-Firdaws Society, which focuses on the protection and education of women and campaigns against the recruitment of young people into armed groups.

She has been the target of public accusations from some political parties claiming she is bound to "external connections", said Ali al-Bayati, a member of the Iraqi government's human rights commission, who said Karim had been abducted and shot dead.

Due to her work, she has been the "subject of death threats and has faced severe social pressure" over the years, according to the Ireland-based Front Line Defenders rights group.

Former Iraqi prime minister Haider al-Abadi mourned Karim's death.

"We condemn the continuing campaign of assassinations of activists," he said.

The EU ambassador in Iraq, Martin Huth, expressed his condolences and called for a "serious investigation" into Karim's killing.

Amnesty International's Donatella Rovera said on Twitter, "Iraq's civil society activists continue to pay with their lives — and the lives of their children."

Killings, attempted murder and abductions have targeted dozens of activists after a protest movement erupted in late 2019 against a government seen as corrupt and inept.

Bayati told AFP that 36 people had been killed in almost 90 assassination attempts since then, adding that "the ongoing impunity seems to encourage the perpetrators to commit more crimes."

Some activists blame the killings on powerful Iran-backed factions in Iraq.

Last week, Baghdad announced the arrest of suspects in the 2020 point-blank shooting of prominent academic Hisham al-Hashemi.