Iraq bombings kill 18

Militants unleashed a wave of bombings yesterday targeting commercial areas in and around the Iraqi capital, killing at least 18 civilians, officials said, as clashes continued between government forces and Islamic State militants in the western province of Anbar.

Baghdad sees near-daily bombings mainly targeting security forces and the country’s Shi’ite majority. The Islamic State group and other Sunni extremists are believed to be behind the attacks.

The deadliest attack took place in Baghdad’s Khilani Square, where a car bomb killed at least seven people and wounded 25, a police officer said. The car was parked near a Sunni mosque and a gathering of motorcycle vendors.

Hours earlier, an explosives-laden car exploded in Mahmoudiya town, about 30km south of Baghdad, killing at least four civilians, another police officer said.

Three people were killed and 13 wounded in another car bomb explosion in Baghdad’s southwestern Amil neighborhood, he added, while two others were killed in a blast in the nearby Bayaa district.

In the capital’s eastern suburb of Husseiniyah, a bomb went off in an outdoor market, killing two civilians and wounding six others, police added.

Medical officials confirmed the toll.

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