On Wednesday June 4th, a car bomb exploded at a busy coffee shop right outside the main gates of the Hilla General Hospital killing 14 and wounding another 58. Many homes and shops were also damaged by the explosion. The coffee shop is known to be a place where patients and their visitors eat and rest.
Although no one has come forward to claim the bombing, one security official believes that it was the Sunni militant organizationIslamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The Shia community has been under continuous attack by extremists, and now attacking hospital patients and their visitors adds another layer to the human rights violations.
