IED blast wounds four persons west of Baghdad

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Four persons were wounded due to an IED blast near a market located west of Baghdad, a security source said on Saturday.

“A bomb, placed near a market in Bakriya neighbourhood, exploded leaving four persons injured,” the source told Al-Ghad Press.

Earlier on Saturday, Baghdad Operations Command declared confiscating an amount of missiles and explosives in different regions across the capital.

A mortar missile fell on one of the residential buildings in a region south of Baghdad, a source said previously on the day.

While several blasts are not followed by a claim of responsibility, Islamic State militants said they had been behind some bloody explosions and attacks that hit the capital in the past months, leaving casualties among civilians and security troops.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) has said that violence in the country left 1115 casualties, excluding security members, during March. Baghdad was the second most affected province with 84 deaths and 246 injuries, according to the organization’s monthly casualty count.

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.