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Baghdad Bombings Kill Or Injure Dozens And ISIS Claims Responsibility

The attack comes just over a week after ISIS was forced out of Fallujah.
Photo shows aftermath of explosions in Baghdad, on July 3, 2016.
Ammar Karim on Twitter
Photo shows aftermath of explosions in Baghdad, on July 3, 2016.

BAGHDAD, July 3 (Reuters) - Several dozen people were killed or injured in two bombings that hit a shopping area and a popular market in Baghdad in the early hours of Sunday as they celebrated Ramadan, local TV channel al-Sumaria said.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for a suicide car bomb in the Karrada shopping area, in a statement circulated online by supporters of the ultra-hard line Sunni group.

The car bomb blew up near a restaurant in Karrada, killing or wounding at least 20 people, the independent al-Sumaria channel said, citing police sources. Iraqis like to eat out late during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which ends next week.

A video posted on social media showed a large blaze in main street of Karrada from the blast.

The second bombing hit al-Shaab, a popular Shi'ite district in the north of the Iraqi capital, leaving a number of casualties, the station said.

Iraqi forces last month dislodged Islamic State militants from Fallujah, their stronghold just west of the capital that served as a launch pad for such attacks.

(Reporting by Maher Chmaytelli; Editing by Dan Grebler)

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