‘UPDATED: Civilian killed, 6 wounded in western, southeast Baghdad blasts

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) One civilian was killed and six others were injured on Sunday when two bomb blasts hit areas west and southeast of Baghdad, according to security sources.

“An explosive device exploded today near a sheep market in Khan Dhari, Abu Gharib, west of Baghdad, killing a civilian and wounding three others,” a security source told Alsumaria News.

Another bomb exploded near a popular market in Nahrawan district, southeast of the capital, wounding three civilians, according to the sources.

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 bombing, but IS militants have said they had been responsible for several bloody explosions and attacks 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.