Nine killed in bombs, shootings around Baghdad

By Arif Yusuf and Zeynep Tufekci

BAGHDAD (AA) – Nine people were killed in separate bomb attacks and violence around the Iraqi capital Baghdad late Sunday, according to an official security source.

Nasr al-Hanun, an Iraqi police first lieutenant, told Anadolu Agency that one civilian was killed and six injured when a bomb-laden car exploded in the Al-Ubeydi area east of Baghdad.

Separately, at least two people were killed and six injured in a bomb attack near a marketplace in the Al-Vahde area south of Baghdad, Al-Hanun added.

Another bomb attack in Baghdad’s Abu-Gurayb district claimed two lives; eight other people were also injured.

Al-Hanun also said a separate bomb attack during a ceremony of Shia citizens in Al-Gadr area killed one civilian and injured seven.

The senior officer added that one other civilian was shot to death in the Hayyu'l Amil district in Baghdad's southwest. Meanwhile, the bodies of two men, believed to have been shot previously, were found by the roadside in Baghdad’s Et-Talibiyye district.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks yet.

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.