Car Bomb Kills Four in Iraqi Capital Baghdad

At least four people have been killed and 17 others wounded in a car bomb attack in the Sadr City neighbourhood of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

The car was parked at a busy second-hand equipment market in the mainly Shia district, police said.

An Iraqi military statement said the blast, targeting an eastern Baghdad market, had killed one civilian, wounded 12 others and set several vehicles on fire.

Black smoke was rising from the market place and ambulances rushed to save the wounded, said witnesses. Police cordoned off the site of the blast shortly afterwards.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. It was the second major deadly bombing to hit Baghdad this year after twin suicide attacks claimed by Islamic State fighters killed at least 32 people in a crowded market in January.

Large bomb attacks, once an almost daily occurrence in the Iraqi capital, have halted in recent years since Islamic State fighters were defeated in 2017, part of an overall improvement in security that has brought normal life back to Baghdad.

The January blast was the deadliest in three years.

Thursday’s attack comes during an election year, a time when tension between rival Iraqi political groups has often caused violence.

The populist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, after whom Sadr city is named and who commands a following of millions of Iraqis, counts among his enemies both Islamic State and rival Shia parties with militias backed by Iran.

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