Three executed for 2016 Iraq bombing that killed over 300 people

BAGHDAD: Three persons convicted for their involvement in the 2016 vehicle bombing in Baghdad that killed more than 300 people, have been executed, the media reported on Tuesday.

The attack on July 3, 2016, claimed by the Islamic State (IS) terror group, was the deadliest single bombing in Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003, reports the BBC.

Although there were no details on the identities of those executed or when they were sentenced, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani's office said the executions were carried out on Sunday and Monday.

The Prime Minister informed victims' families that "the rightful punishment of death sentence" had been carried out against "three key criminals found guilty of their involvement in the terrorist bombing", the BBC quoted the office as saying.

A suicide truck-bomb targeted Baghdad's Shia-majority district of Karrada, which was busy with late night shoppers for Ramadan.

A second roadside bomb was also detonated in the suburb of Sha'ab, killing at least five.

Claiming responsibility, the IS in a statement named the suicide bomber as Abu Maha al-Iraqi.

The explosion caused a huge fire on the main street.

Several buildings, including the popular Hadi Center, were badly damaged.

In October 2021, then Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi announced that Ghazwan al-Zawbaee, the man behind the bombing was arrested by Iraqi security forces in an "intelligence operation outside the country".

IS once controlled 88,000 sq km of territory stretching from eastern Iraq to western Syria and imposed its brutal rule on almost eight million people.

Despite the group's defeat on the battlefield in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria two years later, it is estimated that thousands of militants remain active in both countries.

In March this year, the UN estimated that IS still had "5,000 to 7,000 members and supporters" across the two nations, "roughly half of whom are fighters".