15 dead, over 50 injured in attacks across Baghdad

A series of attacks across Baghdad, including an explosion at a weapons warehouse that set off munitions and sent a huge plume of smoke over the Iraqi capital, killed 15 people and wounded over 50 on Friday, according to Iraqi officials.

The attacks underscore the poor security situation in the Iraqi capital, which has been subject to 

several recent large- scale attacks, including a July shopping centre bombing that killed nearly 300.  

At least three rockets landed in eastern Baghdad, killing five people and wounding 15, police officials said.

The rockets that hit eastern Baghdad appear to have been set of by a blast at a weapons storage facility, according to a police official.

An Associated Press reporter at the scene said members of the powerful Shiite militia group Asaib Ahl al-Haq were present on the spot. Police officials say it is unclear which powerful Shiite militia the weapons store belonged to.

The weapons' cache blast set off munitions stored there, sending a huge plume of smoke over the city skyline.

In the predominantly Sunni neighborhood of Ghazaliya, a bomb struck a shopping street, killing two and wounding eight, police said. Two bomb attacks on vegetable markets across the city killed five and wounded 20, officials from the Interior Ministry said.

Meanwhile, an attack on a commercial area in western Baghdad killed three and wounded eight persons, according to police and hospital officials. All officials spoke on the condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to talk to the media. 

Friday also marked the martyrdom of the ninth Shiite Imam. In Baghdad pilgrims descended on the Kadhimiya shrine in Baghdad to commemorate the day, but none of the attacks wounded pilgrims or hit near the shrine.