No fewer than 19 civilians were killed on Saturday in a double suicide bombing targeting a busy market in central Baghdad, an official at the Iraqi Interior Ministry said.
The official told newsmen on condition of anonymity that 45 others were injured in the attack in al-Sinak market.
According to Saad Maan, a spokesman for Baghdad Security Operations, the bombing was carried out by two suicide bombers wearing explosive belts.
Police said earlier that the attack was the result of two back-to-back bombs detonated at a market that sells car accessories and electrical equipment.
Report says thousands of people visit the al-Sinak market every day.
So far, no group has claimed responsibility for Saturday’s attack.
In a separate incident, security forces said they had foiled a suicide car bombing targeting the mostly Shiite district of Kadhimiyah in northern Baghdad.
“Acting on intelligence information, Iraqi forces in northern Baghdad tracked down a car bomb with two suicide bombers, who planned to detonate it in Kadhimiyah.
“The forces ambushed the car, blew it up and killed the two bombers inside,’’ the security forces said.
In the past, the radical Sunni Islamic State militia has taken credit for suicide bombings in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq.
Most of those attacks targeted security forces and Shiites, whom Islamic State regards as heretics.
Iraqi forces, backed by a U.S.-led air alliance, are pressing ahead with a campaign to drive Islamic State from its key stronghold of Mosul in northern Iraq.
Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, has been under Islamic State control since mid-2014. (dpa/NAN)