Two wounded in northern Baghdad bomb explosion

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Two civilians were wounded on Friday when an explosive device hit a road north of Baghdad, according to police sources, as bloody attacks continue to rock the capital on a near-daily basis.

The device was placed on the side of a road in al-Shaab region, north of the capital, the sources told Alsumaria News.

Iraq saw an increase in violence since Islamic State militants 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 Friday 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.

A most recent attack on Thursday, which was claimed by the extremist group, left 45 dead and 50 injured in al-Bayyaa region, southwest of Baghdad.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) said violence in the country left nearly 382 dead, including security members, and 908 injured during January. Baghdad was the most affected province with 128 deaths and 444 injuries, according to the organization.

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.