Car bomb at popular Baghdad dealership kills 13

A car bomb at a popular car dealership has killed 13 people and injured 52 in eastern Baghdad’s volatile Sadr City neighbourhood, two days after a market bombing killed dozens.

The Habibiya car dealership, widely-known for buying and selling used vehicles, has been targeted several times in the past.

The Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the bombing in a communique distributed via affiliated Twitter accounts, saying the vehicle targeted a large gathering of the Iraqi army, national police and government-backed Popular Mobilisation Forces.

A massive explosion in a Sadr City market on Thursday killed at least 67 people and wounded more than 100. The bombing, claimed by IS, was one of the worst single-day attacks in Baghdad in a decade.

Elsewhere in and around the Iraqi capital, a series of bombings killed at least nine people and wounded 33.

The largest took place in the town of Madain, just south of Baghdad, when a bomb tore through a popular market killing three people and wounding 10.

In the town of Taji, north of Baghdad, a bomb hit a row of car repair shops, killing two people and injuring eight.

In Baghdad's al-Askan district, an improvised explosive device detonated on a busy commercial street, killing at least two people and wounding eight. And in Baghdad's southeastern suburb of Jisr Diyala, police said two were killed and seven wounded when a bomb exploded on a commercial street.

Fallujah

In a separate attack on Sunday, IS militants targeted Iraqi government troops outside the militant-held city of Fallujah, killing at least 17 troops.

Three suicide attackers drove explosives-laden military vehicles into government forces’ barricades near Fallujah, west of Baghdad, a police officer and army officer said.

Clashes broke out afterwards, with 15 other troops wounded, the officials added.

Backed by Sia and Sunni paramilitary forces, Iraqi government forces last month launched a wide-scale military operation to dislodge militants from Fallujah and other key cities in Anbar province.

Agencies