2 min readBaghdadNov 16, 2014 07:57 PM IST
First published on: Nov 16, 2014 at 07:52 PM IST
File Photo – Civilians inspect the site of Friday’s car bomb in Baghdad’s Gorayaat neighborhood, Iraq (Source: AP)
A series of explosions in Baghdad killed at least five people and wounded nearly 20 on Sunday, including a bombing claimed by the Islamic State militant group near the Baghdad International Airport.
The first blast took place near a police patrol in the suburb of Radwaniya, a largely Sunni neighborhood southwest of Baghdad, killing two policemen and wounding five. Police also reported a roadside bombing on a commercial street in the Hay Jami’a neighborhood, which killed three people and wounded nine.
Near the Baghdad International Airport, the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for a car bomb at one of the first airport checkpoints, wounding five people and causing extensive damage to cars in the parking lot. In a statement posted on a militant website, the group identified the attacker as a man named Abu Muawiya al-Falluji, saying he was targeting Americans leaving the airport. The statement could not immediately be verified but it was posted on a website frequently used by the group. The blast hit a United Nations convoy of three vehicles that was passing at the time of the explosion, but no one in the convoy was wounded, the U.N. said Sunday.
Hospital officials confirmed the casualties. All spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to brief the media.
Baghdad has remained relatively calm amid a rampage in northern and western Iraq by the al-Qaida-inspired Sunni militant group. Recent bombings have frequently targeted Shiite-majority areas in the capital, but the violence has been considerably subdued from the darkest days of sectarian bloodletting in 2006 and 2007.
File Photo – Civilians inspect the site of Friday’s car bomb in Baghdad’s Gorayaat neighborhood, Iraq (Source: AP)
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