Officials Say At least 27 Dead in Baghdad Bombings Today

At least 27 people have been killed and more than 100 wounded in two bombings in Baghdad, security and medical officials said on Tuesday.

In the first attack, a suicide bomber struck overnight near a popular ice cream store.


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In the second incident, a car bomb exploded near one of the city's main bridges on Tuesday morning, officials said.

ISIL issued a statement claiming responsibility for the first attack, identifying the bomber as an Iraqi who blew up an explosives-rigged vehicle targeting Shiite Muslims.


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ISIL considers members of Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority -- including the women and children who were victims of the ice cream store blast -- heretics and legitimate targets for attack.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the second attack, but ISIL has carried out frequent car bombings targeting civilians in the Iraqi capital.


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The blasts, which come just a few days into the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, highlight the danger posed by jihadists even as security forces have dealt them a string of battlefield defeats.


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ISIL overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but Iraqi forces backed by US-led air strikes have since regained much of the lost territory and are now fighting to retake the last jihadist-held areas in second city Mosul.

(Source: AFP)