Bomb attack at Baghdad market kills 3, wounds 5

 

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Three people were killed and five wounded in Baghdad on Monday by an improvised bomb that targeted a grocery store, Iraqi police and media said.

The explosion took place at a market in Baghdad’s Yousifya district. Police imposed security measures immediately after the attack and ambulances were reported rushing the wounded to hospital.

Bomb attacks have once again become a near-daily tragedy in the Iraqi capital.

On Sunday, at least four people were killed and 21 wounded in separate attacks in and around Baghdad, where security forces also shot dead a suicide bomber before he could reach an army checkpoint and detonate his explosives.

In the town of Taji north of Baghdad, an improvised bomb killed to people and wounded eight others, and in Madaeen southeast of Baghdad another improvised bomb killed one and wounded five others.

Earlier Sunday, an explosion at a popular market in Baghdad’s Mahmoudiya district killed one person and wounded eight.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) announced that a total of 691 Iraqis were killed and another 1,016 injured “in acts of terrorism, violence and armed conflict in Iraq, excluding Anbar, in August 2016.”

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest bombings, but the spate of attacks follow severe setbacks to the Islamic State (ISIS) group which has lost large swathes of territory to the Iraqi army and Kurdish Peshmerga forces.

The bombings also come ahead of an anticipated joint assault on Mosul in northern Iraq, ISIS stronghold in the country and the last major city still under the control of the religious zealots.