Friday 19 / April / 2024
Baghdad/Mosul: Suicide bombs at two marketplaces in Baghdad, one of them claimed by IS, killed at least 20 people on Sunday, police and medics said, the latest in a spate of militant attacks in the Iraqi capital that have left dozens dead.
In the first blast, the attacker drove an explosives-rigged car into a large vegetable market in the district of Jamila, and detonated it after security forces opened fire to try to stop the vehicle, police sources said.
A suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest blew himself up a few hours later at a market in Baladiyat district.
The first blast killed 13, and the second blast killed seven people. More than 50 were wounded.
IS claimed carrying out the first attack in an online statement, saying the bomber had targeted a gathering in Jamila.
A series of attacks in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities have killed more than 80 people in just over a week.
Several have been claimed by the extremist IS, which is coming under increasing pressure from a US-backed offensive in Mosul, its last major stronghold in Iraq.
Iraqi forces advanced to within several hundred metres of the Tigris river than runs through Mosul on Saturday, as their operation against the militants gathers pace.
IS is likely to resort to bomb attacks and similar tactics elsewhere in Iraq as it is driven out of its Mosul stronghold.
Meanwhile, Iraqi special forces reached the eastern bank of the Tigris river in Mosul on Sunday for the first time in a US-backed assault on IS, and clashed with militants near a historic site in the city, military officials said.
Elite counter-terrorism service (CTS) units fought their way to a bridge over the Tigris which has been damaged in fighting, CTS spokesman Sabah Al Numan said.
It was the first time Iraqi forces have reached the river in the city itself since the operation to drive IS out of Mosul began in October. Iraqi forces have so far only penetrated eastern districts of Mosul, which is bissected by the river. The city is IS's last major stronghold in Iraq.
CTS forces backed by US-led air raids meanwhile clashed with IS militants near a historic site a short distance away, an officer said, as they tried to drive the militants out of more districts in the city.
"This morning CTS troops advanced in two directions towards the Baladiyat and Sukkar districts," Lt. General Abdelwahab Al Saadi said.
"During the advance, Daesh (IS) tried to confront us from the historic hill," he said, apparently referring to a hill located near the ruins of the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh, east of the Tigris river and inside Mosul.
Saadi said Iraqi forces and warplanes from the US-led coalition "dealt with" IS fighters who had gone up the hill to use it as a firing position. Dozens of the militants were killed, he added.
The CTS has spearheaded advances into eastern Mosul in the nearly 12-week campaign.
Forces including the CTS and army units have advanced further into Mosul in recent days, helped by new tactics and better coordination to gain fresh momentum after getting bogged down inside the city towards the end of the year.
