Car bombings kill 17 in Baghdad area

Six car bombs in the Baghdad area, including one near a hospital, killed at least 17 people and wounded more than 55 on Tuesday, security and medical officials said.

One blast hit a car park across the street from Yarmuk hospital in the west of the Iraqi capital, another exploded near another car park in Mashtal in the city's east and a third detonated near shops in Waziriyah in the north.

South of Baghdad, two more car bombs struck a car park used by taxis and buses in Al-Wahida, while a sixth exploded in a residential area of Mahmudiyah.

Bombings and shootings in Baghdad were once a daily occurrence, but have declined since Daesh jihadist group launched a major offensive last June, seizing control of vast areas north and west of the city.

That has tied them down in fighting outside Baghdad that distracts from their ability to carry out attacks inside the capital.

Iraqi security forces and allied paramilitaries have retaken significant amounts of territory from Daesh in recent months, with backing from a US-led coalition carrying out air strikes and training, as well as from Iran.

But large parts of two provinces -- Nineveh in the north and Anbar in the west -- remain under Daesh control.

On Monday, seven people were killed and 31 wounded in a car bombing in Baghdad's western neighbourhood of Bayaa, a police colonel said.

Another two people were killed the same day by a roadside bomb in Taji, just north of the capital, he said.
Source: AFP