Southern Baghdad blasts kill 1, wound 8
Aftermath of an explosion in Baghdad (representational photo).
An explosive device exploded near a popular market near Jisr Diyala district in southern Baghdad, killing one and wounding 5, sources told Alghad Press.
In another incident, three civilians were wounded when an IED went off at al-Seha district in Dora, south of the capital, according to Saad Maan, spokesperson of the interior ministry’s Baghdad Operations, who revealed that the device was placed inside a vehicle.
Since 2014, violence surged in Iraq with the Islamic State militants taking over wide areas of the country to establish their self-styled “islamic caliphate” The United Nations said in November that 58000 people died since then until September 2016. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) said early December that violence during November claimed the lives of 926 civilians and wounded 930 people.
Observers believe ISIS have begun to target several areas across Iraq, like Baghdad, to divert security focus from Mosul, where the group fights to defend its last bastion in Iraq under the brunt of continuous advancements by Iraqi government and popular troops which hope the city would be recaptured soon and deal the fatal blow to the group’s existence in Iraq.