Sadr City

ISIL claimed responsibility early on July 20 for a suicide bombing that ripped through a busy market in the Iraqi capital ahead of Eid holiday celebrations, killing nearly 30 people, according to medical sources.

Protesters began gathering in Baghdad's Sadr City district late on Oct. 7 after overnight clashes with security forces spread to the vast, poor swath of the Iraqi capital for the first time killing 15 people.

Influential Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr met with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on March 27 night after beginning a sit-in in Baghdad's highly fortified Green Zone intended to be a show of force following his calls to combat government corruption.

A Turkish official denied reports that said Turkish workers who were kidnapped by gunmen in Baghdad earlier in September were released, while underlining that intense efforts to this aim have been underway.

The top Shiite cleric in Iraq on, al-Sistani, calls for the release of 18 Turkish workers kidnapped in Baghdad last week The top Shiite cleric in Iraq on Sept.

An Iraqi soldier was killed in clashes with gunmen as security forces searched for a suspect behind the kidnappings of 18 Turkish workers, the military said on Sept. 4.

The Turkish employees of construction company Nurol ?n?aat were seized on Sept. 2 in the Sadr City area of north Baghdad, where they were working on a football stadium project.

The kidnappers of 18 Turkish workers will be treated as terrorists, Iraqi Prime Minister Haydar al-Ibadi has said.

?Today [Sept. 2], I gave instructions for those involved in the kidnapping event in Baghdad to be treated as terrorists,? al-Ibadi said in a written statement.

Masked men in military and police uniforms kidnapped 18 Turkish workers and engineers in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on Sept. 2. Turkish nationals were selected from a group of workers during the incident, the Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tanju Bilgiç told reporters. 

Powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has vowed to "shake the ground" under the feet of advancing Sunni militants, as Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki warned rivals against exploiting the crisis to sideline him.