Suicide bombing in Baghdad district kills 12
Five more people died in bombings elsewhere in Iraq
Baghdad: A suicide car bomb ripped through an outdoor market in a Shiite-dominated northeastern district of Baghdad on Tuesday, killing at least 12 people, officials said, as government forces deployed across much of the Iraqi capital in preparation for a major military parade later this week.
Five more people died in bombings Tuesday elsewhere in Iraq.
The developments came on the heels of two large-scale attacks claimed by Daesh that killed more than 300 people last week. On Monday, visiting US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said Washington will send 560 more troops to Iraq to help battle Daesh.
In Tuesday’s Baghdad bombing, the explosives-laden pickup truck exploded during the morning rush hour at a vegetable and fruit market in the Al Rashidiya district, a police officer said. The blast killed 12 and wounded up to 37, and also damaged several cars, he added.
Elsewhere, a bomb went off at another outdoor market, this one in the town of Mahmoudiya, about 30 kilometres south of Baghdad, killing three shoppers and wounding 10 people, police said. And two more civilians were killed and nine were wounded in a bombing that targeted a commercial area in the capital’s southern neighbourhood of Dora, police also said.
Medical officials confirmed the casualty figures. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to talk to the media.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks, but they bore the hallmarks of Daesh.
