Civilian killed, 4 wounded in explosion south of Baghdad

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) A civilian was killed and four others were wounded on Monday when an explosive device went off in southern Baghdad.

Alsumaria News quoted a security source as saying that the bomb was planted near a popular market in Suweib.

Violence surged in Iraq with the emergence of Islamic State militants who took over large areas of the country in 2014. Baghdad has been witnessing almost daily bombings targeting civilians and security personnel.

Nobody has claimed responsibility yet for the Monday bombing, but IS militants have said they had been responsible for several bloody explosions that hit the capital in the past months, bringing the governorate municipal and security officials under critics’ fire.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) said violence in the country left 19000 casualties in nine months of 2016.

Observers believe Islamic State have begun to escalate attacks outside the city of Mosul, where the group has been losing ground and personnel since October, so as to relieve pressure by government forces on that front and to divert attention from group losses.

While losing Mosul could be the severest blow to the group’s existence in Iraq, some observers argue that attacks outside the province prove that the extremist group can still pose a security threat for all cities.