Car bomb kills 9 at Baghdad market

Baghdad: A car bomb tore through a Baghdad market today, killing at least nine people in what appeared to be the latest in a series of deadly attacks by the Islamic State group.

Elsewhere, four attacks in and around Baghdad killed at least seven people, bringing the day’s overall death toll to at least 16.

Those attacks, mostly by bombs that went off in commercial areas or targeted security forces, also wounded at least 20 people, police and medical officials said.

In the Baghdad attack, the car was parked near an outdoor fruit and vegetable market in a mostly Shiite neighborhood of the city.

Seven civilians and two policemen were among fatalities, while at least 15 other people were wounded, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks but they bore the hallmarks of IS, which has carried out a string of bombings in Baghdad over the past week, killing nearly 100 people.

The Sunni extremists frequently target Iraq’s security forces and civilians in Shiite neighborhoods.