Bomb attacks claim 40 lives in, around Iraqi capital

Friday, 17 April 2015 3:15 PM [ Last Update: Friday, 17 April 2015 5:27 PM ]

A man stands in front of his destroyed car at the scene of a car bomb explosion in a parking lot outside Yarmouk hospital in western Baghdad, Iraq, on April 14, 2015. © AP

At least forty people have been killed and nearly 60 others wounded when separate bomb attacks struck public places and pro-government Sunni fighters in and around the capital, Baghdad.

Iraqi security and medical officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the deadliest of Friday's attacks took place in Baghdad’s eastern neighborhood of Habibya, where a bomb blast inside a car dealership killed 15 people and wounded 26 others.

The second incident came less than an hour after an explosives-laden car exploded near an outdoor market in the capital's southwestern Amil neighborhood, leaving 13 people dead and 24 others wounded.

Separately, four people lost their lives and nine others sustained injuries, when a blast ripped through a commercial street in the capital’s southeastern New Baghdad district.

A bomb also went off near an outdoor market in Dora neighborhood of southern Baghdad, killing three shoppers.

Moreover, three people were killed as a bomb explosion occurred near a café in the Iraqi capital’s southeastern suburbs.

Two anti-al-Qaeda Sahwa fighters were also killed when an improvised explosive device exploded in southern Baghdad.

There has been no claim of responsibility for the acts of violence, but such attacks are usually blamed on the ISIL Takfiri terrorists.

The UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) says nearly 1,000 people were killed by violence last month, while over 2,170 others were injured.

Iraqis stand at the site of a car bomb explosion in Sadr City of northern Baghdad, Iraq, on March 23, 2015. © AFP

According to the UN mission, the number of civilian fatalities stood at 729. Violence also claimed the lives of nearly 270 members of the Iraqi security forces in March.

A great portion of the fatalities was recorded in Baghdad, where more than 360 civilians were killed.

Northern parts of Iraq have been in chaos since ISIL started its campaign of terror in early June 2014. The terrorists are in control of the city of Mosul and have swept through parts of the country’s Sunni Arab heartland.

Since then, Iraq’s army has been joined by Kurdish forces, Shia volunteers and Sunni tribesmen in operations to drive the ISIL terrorists out of the areas they have seized.

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