Baghdad blasts kill 27 as forces fight in Mosul

SUICIDE bombings claimed by the Islamic State group killed at least 27 people in Baghdad, officials said yesterday, as Iraqi forces fight to retake the last jihadist-held areas in Mosul.

In the deadliest of the two attacks, a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-rigged vehicle at a popular ice cream shop at about midnight, killing at least 16 people and wounding 75.

The bomber struck just days after the start of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, during which Iraqis often stay out late shopping or socialising after breaking their daily fast.

The IS issued statements claiming the ice cream shop blast and a later bombing, saying both were suicide car bombings targeting members of Iraq’s Shiite Muslim majority, whom the group considers heretics.

Images and footage posted on social media showed the devastating impact of the first blast, which ripped through the crowded area around Al-Faqma ice cream shop in the Karrada district of central Baghdad, scattering rubble across the street.

One photo showed cups of ice cream scattered on the bloodstained ground.

Brett McGurk, the US envoy to the international coalition fighting the IS, condemned the attack and expressed solidarity with Iraq.

“Terrorists in Baghdad target children and families enjoying time together at an ice cream shop. We stand w/Iraq against this evil,” McGurk said on Twitter.

In the second attack, a suicide bomber blew up a bomb-rigged vehicle near the country’s main pension office, the Baghdad Operations Command said.

At least 11 people were killed and at least 40 wounded, officials said.

The attacks in Baghdad come as Iraqi forces fight to retake the last IS-held areas of Mosul, a city that was the jihadist group’s most emblematic stronghold.

Iraqi forces are more than seven months into a massive operation to retake the city from the IS, and have already recaptured its whole east side and much of the west.

Three neighbourhoods north of Mosul’s Old City – Al-Shifaa, Al-Saha and Al-Zinjili – are now the target of a broad assault by Iraqi soldiers, police and special forces.

Yesterday, an Iraqi army officer said security forces were proceeding slowly in Al-Shifaa in a bid to protect infrastructure, including hospitals. – AFP