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Massacre in Baghdad
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Three car bombs struck crowds in and near Baghdad yesterday killing at least 35 people and injuring more than 100 others. The first was detonated shortly after midnight, local time, near an ice cream shop. The second came a few hours later and struck near a government office. And in the evening, a suicide bomber in an explosive vest hit an army checkpoint.
Credit for the attacks was claimed by ISIS. The bomb at the ice cream shop was targeted at a late-night crowd celebrating Ramadan. During the holy month, Muslims fast during the day, so nighttime sees large crowds of people shopping and eating before dawn, when next day’s fast begins. That’s why you get a big crowd around an ice cream shop at midnight.
Wait, isn’t Ramadan in December or something? No. The Islamic calendar uses lunar months, and the year is only 354 or 355 days long, so Ramadan changes annually. This year, it runs from May 27 to June 24. Next year it’ll be May 16 to June 14, and so on.
This is a preview from Wednesday’s Daily Shot newsletter. Subscribe here free of charge.
Published in Islamist Terrorism
They also had massive bombs – even worse – in Afghanistan, killing at least 90.
Yes, it’s Ramadan and the religion of peace is being religious.
Muslim Mardi Gras? You learn something every day. Thanks.
I have the feeling the fundamentalists didn’t think the ones feasting at midnight took their faith that seriously.
Ramadan seems meaningless – there is nothing peaceful about what is taking place across the world.
No. This was a Sunni-Shia thing. The ISIS folks think the Shia are heretics.
The last president was in a war every day of his eight years. Has that ever been the case?
Will we end our presence there ? It seems there’s an eternity of people willing to do horrible things. If the president/Mattis have an end game I hope it’s efficient and soon .