7 killed, 19 injured in bomb blasts around Baghdad

By Gulsen Topcu

BAGHDAD (AA) – At least seven people were killed and 19 others injured in three separate bomb attack in and around Iraq's capital Baghdad late Thursday, according to a security source.

A device was detonated as a military vehicle was passing by in the village of Arab Ejbur south of Baghdad, killing two soldiers and injuring four others, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

In a separate attack in the Sabaa al-Bour area, a bomb was detonated close to a local market. Three civilians were killed and six others injured.

Two civilians were also killed and another nine injured in the En-Nahran district in a third bomb attack.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Iraq has suffered a devastating security vacuum since mid-2014, when Daesh captured the northern city of Mosul – now the subject of a large offensive to retake it – and overran large swathes of territory in the northern and western parts of the country.

According to the UN, more than 3.4 million people are now displaced in Iraq – more than half of them children – while more than 10 million are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance.