Iraq bombings kill at least 26 people

Bombings in and around Baghdad, including a suicide attack, killed at least 26 people and wounded dozens Thursday, police and medical sources said.
At least 10 people were killed by car bombs near the frequently targeted Baghdad district of Kadhimiyah, while nine died in a suicide car bomb attack in Talbiya, a senior Baghdad police official said.
The double car bombing in a Dolai neighbourhood, also wounded 29 people.
It was claimed by the Islamic State (IS) in a statement circulated on social media.
The jihadist organisation said it targeted a group of Shiite volunteer fighters with the first car bomb and exploded the second one when the police arrived on the scene.
A hospital source confirmed the casualty figures.
The suicide bombing at a police checkpoint in Talbiya, near the sprawling northern neighbourhood of Sadr City, also wounded at least 26 people.
IS also claimed responsibility for an attack in the Shiite area of Kadhimiyah on Tuesday that killed 28 people, including a member of parliament who was also a senior commander in the Shiite Badr militia.
IS frequently carries targets members of Iraq's Shiite majority.
The group has overrun large areas of the country since June and also holds substantial territory in neighbouring Syria.
In further violence Thursday, a car bomb in Mahmudiyah, a restive town south of Baghdad in an area known as the "triangle of death," killed at least six people.
In Madain, just east of Mahmudiyah, a roadside bomb blast hit an army patrol, killing at least one soldier and wounding others.
The United Nations said more than 1,110 people were killed in acts of violence across Iraq in September. According to an AFP count, around 400 have already been killed this month.
While the bloodshed has mainly been on the front lines where federal, Kurdish and allied forces are battling to push IS back, blasts and executions in Baghdad continue to take a heavy toll.
Source: AFP