This Powerful Tweet Will Make You Rethink How You View Bombings in the Middle East

Four suicide bombs exploded throughout Baghdad on Jan. 2, killing at least 43, according to the Associated Press. The largest attack took place at a popular fruit and vegetable market packed with day laborers in Sadr City. A driver pretended to look for day laborers to hire and detonated his vehicle after they had gathered around.

The AP reports that Sadr City is a Shiite district that's been a frequent target of Sunni extremists since the US-led invasion in 2003. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, which killed at least 39 people and wounded 57. Three other bombings took place on Monday, killing seven civilians and injuring 30 — this string of attacks follows a similar bombing on Dec. 31 that left at least 28 people dead at a spare parts market in Baghdad, according to Al Jazeera. ISIS claimed responsibility for that attack as well.

One Twitter user named Daniel Nisman put the devastation into perspective, comparing the bombings to 2016's Berlin Christmas market and Nice Bastile Day attacks. Those events received much more attention in the press and on social media.

Jut because suicide bombings happen more frequently in the Middle East than in the Western world doesn't mean we should care any less. As a man named Ali Abbas who owns a vegetable stand at the market told the AP after Monday's attack: "We have no idea who will kill at any moment and who's supposed to protect us." What a terrifying and heartbreaking reality to live in.