World

Dozens killed or injured in overnight Baghdad bombings: Sumaria TV

Dozens killed or injured in overnight Baghdad bombings: Sumaria TV

By REUTERS

Smoke rises after bombing targeting Islamic State positions in Fallujah, 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, May 24, 2016. Photo: AP

Several dozen people were killed or injured in two bombings that hit a shopping area and a popular market in Baghdad in the early hours of Sunday as they celebrated Ramadan, local TV channel al-Sumaria said. Islamic State claimed responsibility for a suicide car bomb in the Karrada shopping area, in a statement circulated online by supporters of the ultra-hard line Sunni group. The car bomb blew up near a restaurant in Karrada, killing or wounding at least 20 people, the independent al-Sumaria channel said, citing police sources. Iraqis like to eat out late during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which ends next week. A video posted on social media showed a large blaze in main street of Karrada from the blast. The second bombing hit al-Shaab, a popular Shi'ite district in the north of the Iraqi capital, leaving a number of casualties, the station said. Iraqi forces last month dislodged Islamic State militants from Falluja, their stronghold just west of the capital that served as a launch pad for such attacks.