7 killed in separate Baghdad attacks

By Ibrahim Salih

BAGHDAD (AA) - At least seven people were killed -- including four members of the same family -- in separate attacks that occurred in different parts of Baghdad on Wednesday, according to a local police officer.

Baghdad Police Captain Yasser al-Mustafa told Anadolu Agency that unidentified gunmen had attacked a home in Baghdad’s eastern Al-Rashad neighborhood, killing a man, his wife and two of their children.

He did not provide a motive for the attack.

The attackers, al-Mustafa said, had fled the scene before the arrival of security forces, who, he added, were now investigating the incident.

Elsewhere in Baghdad, two people were killed -- and another eight injured -- when a bomb went off near a crowded market in the northern Al-Tarmiya district, according to the police officer.

In yet a third violent incident, unidentified gunmen sprayed a civilian vehicle with machine-gun fire in the city’s western Al-Adl neighborhood, killing the driver instantly, al-Mustafa said.

While there has been no claim of responsibility for the violence, Iraq’s capital in recent months has seen similar attacks on an almost daily basis, for which the authorities generally blame the Daesh terrorist group.

Iraq’s security situation has deteriorated rapidly since mid-2014, when Daesh captured the northern city of Mosul along with vast swathes of territory in the country’s northern and western regions.

In recent months, the Iraqi army -- backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes and local allies on the ground -- has since managed to retake much lost territory.

Nevertheless, the terrorist group remains in firm control of several parts of the country, including Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city.

Officials in Baghdad, for their part, have vowed to eradicate Daesh’s presence in Iraq by year’s end.