Nine persons killed, wounded in three bomb blasts in Baghdad

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Nine persons were killed and injured in several explosions in the capital city of Baghdad, a security source said on Saturday.

“A bomb exploded near a market in al-Tarmiyah region, north of Baghdad, leaving a citizen killed and four others wounded,” the source told Baghdad Today on Saturday.

Another bomb, according to the source, “targeted a civilian’s vehicle in al-Jihad district, southwest of Baghdad.” The civilian was immediately killed.

A third bomb “exploded near stores in al-Wardiya region in al-Mada’in town, southeast of the capital, leaving three persons injured,” the source said.

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.

A total of 117 Iraqi civilians were killed and another 264 injured, excluding police, in acts of terrorism, violence and armed conflict in Iraq in November, according to casualty figures recorded by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI).

Baghdad was the worst affected Governorate, with 201 civilian casualties (51 killed, 150 injured). Salahaddin Governorate followed, with 24 killed and 60 injured, and Kirkuk had 12 killed and 28 injured.

Iraqi forces, backed by a U.S.-led coalition and paramilitary troops, have been fighting since October 2016 to retake territories Islamic State had occupied. Since then, forces took back the group’s former capital, Mosul, the town of Tal Afar, Kirkuk’s Hawija, and Anbar’s Annah, Rawa and Qaim.