24 killed in Baghdad market bombing, 60 injured

Bombings near a market in a Shiite area of northern Baghdad killed at least 24 people on Sunday, security and medical officials said. The blasts in the Sadr City area, at least one of which was a suicide bombing, also wounded at least 60 people. The bombings were the deadliest attacks to hit the capital this year.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, but suicide bombings are a tactic almost exclusively employed in Iraq by Sunni militants, especially members of the Islamic State jihadist group.

IS considers Shiite Muslims, who make up the majority of Iraq’s population, to be heretics and frequently targets them with bombings and other attacks.

The jihadist group, which overran swathes of Iraq in 2014, claimed twin suicide bombings targeting Shiite worshippers on Thursday that killed at least nine people. Those bombings took place in Shuala, another Shiite-majority area in northern Baghdad.

While attacks are still common in Baghdad, violence in the capital has decreased significantly since IS launched a sweeping offensive in June 2014, after which many of its militants became occupied with fighting in other areas.

Two police sources said the assailants were suicide bombers riding motorcycles through a crowded mobile phone market. They said police had sealed off the area to prevent further attacks. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blasts, but Islamic State militants regularly claim attacks on Shi’ite targets in the capital and said they had attacked Iraqi security forces in the western out

skirts overnight.