One killed, 5 wounded in 2 blasts south of Baghdad

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) One civilian was killed and five others were wounded on Friday in two separate bombings that hit two neighborhoods south of Baghdad, according to security sources.

Alghad Press website quoted security sources saying that one person was killed and three others were injured when an explosive device went off near a popular marketplace in Suweib district, south of the capital. Another bomb exploded near a fish market in Madaen region, also in the south, leaving two people wounded.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the bombings, but Islamic State militants have said they had been responsible for several bloody explosions and attacks that hit the capital in the past months.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) says violence in the country left nearly 392 dead and 613 injured, excluding security members, during February. Baghdad was the second most affected province with 120 deaths and 300 injuries, according to the organization’s monthly casualty count.

Some observers believe Islamic State militants have begun to escalate attacks outside the city of Mosul, IS’s largest stronghold in Iraq 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.