IED blast kills civil servant in western Baghdad

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) A civilian was killed in an IED blast in western Baghdad, Al-Ikhbariya news website quoted a local source as saying.

“A bomb, placed under a car of a civil servant who works for Health Ministry, exploded as he was passing on the highway in Abu Ghraib region in western Baghdad, which caused his immediate death,” the police source said.

“Security troops cordoned off the blast spot and transferred the victim to the forensic medicine department,” the source added.

Violence in the country has surged further with the emergence of Islamic State Sunni extremist militants who proclaimed an “Islamic Caliphate” in Iraq and Syria in 2014.

More than 700 Iraqis were killed and wounded during the month of June as result of violence and armed conflicts, according to a monthly count by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) which excludes security members deaths. Baghdad ranked the second place with 22 deaths and 88 injuries.

Bombings and armed attacks are seen on on almost a daily basis against security members, paramilitary groups and civilians since the Iraqi government launched a wide-scale campaign to retake IS-occupied areas in 2016.

According to observers, IS is believed to constitute a security threat even after the group’s defeat at its main havens across Iraqi provinces.