Baghdad: A series of car bomb attacks at a group of restaurants and a market on Thursday killed 21 people in Baghdad, said Iraqi officials. Police officials said the first attack targeted a line of small restaurants in the Shiite district of Sadr City Thursday night, killing 11 people and wounding 25 others.
Minutes later, a second car bomb blast near an outdoor market in the same district killed seven people and wounded 21 others. Several cars were either burnt or damaged due to both attacks.
Later on, a bomb exploded near a restaurant in Baghdad's Shiite northern neighborhood of Shaab, killing three people and wounding 12 others. Medical officials confirmed the casualties. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.
Iraq sees near-daily bombings and other attacks mainly targeting Shiite neighborhoods and security forces. The attacks are often claimed by the Sunni extremist Islamic State group which seized much of northern and western Iraq in a summer offensive.
