Security and medical officials in Iraq say at least five people have been killed and more than a dozen others injured in two separate car bomb explosions at residential areas in and around the capital, Baghdad.
A police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said three people, among them two policemen, lost their lives and eight others sustained injuries when a vehicle rigged with explosives went off near a security checkpoint in Baghdad’s northern neighborhood of al-Taremieh on Saturday, Arabic-language Alforat news agency reported.
Later in the day, another assailant rammed his explosives-laden car into a crowd of Shia pilgrims in the town of Taji, located about 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of Baghdad, as they were on their way to a holy shrine in the capital’s Kadhimiya neighborhood. Two civilians lost their lives and at least seven others sustained injuries in the bombing.
There has been no claim of responsibility for the bombings, but such attacks are usually blamed on Daesh militants.
The UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) says a total of 812 Iraqis were killed and another 1,726 were injured in acts of terrorism, violence and armed conflict last month. According to the UN mission, the number of civilian fatalities stood at 535. Violence also claimed the lives of 277 members of the Iraqi security forces in April. A great portion of the fatalities was recorded in Baghdad, where 319 civilians were killed.
Northern and western parts of Iraq have been in chaos since Daesh started its campaign of terror in early June 2014. The terrorists are in control of the second-largest city of Mosul and they have swept through parts of the country’s heartland. Since then, Iraq’s army has been joined by Kurdish forces, Shia volunteers and Sunni tribesmen in operations to drive Daesh out of the areas they have seized.
Editor's note: This article has been edited from the source material
