Bomb blast in Baghdad kills four, injuring civilians

Shortly after a drone attack in Iraq earlier today, a bomb blast in Baghdad injured dozens.

CAPE TOWN, April 15 (ANA) – Iraq officials said at least four people were killed in a car bomb blast in Sadr City, and at least 17 others were injured in Thursday’s insurgent assault in the southwest, according to Al Jazeera.

“An explosive device placed under a vehicle exploded in the al-Habibiya area of al-Sadr city, eastern Baghdad, and caused the death of a citizen and the injury of 14 others,” the police officer told Anadolu Agency.

The police officer also said the explosion destroyed three other vehicles in the immediate vicinity.

A report issued by the Iraqi military said that the bombing, which occurred in the east Baghdad district and killed one person, left 12 others injured and left several vehicles ablaze.

This is the second blast in Baghdad since the start of the year, with two suicide bombers from the terror group Daesh (also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or simply ISIS) carrying out an attack in a public market in the capital on January 21, where they killed 32 people and wounded 110 more, causing significant harm.

The bomb blast occurred during an election year, when opposing Iraqi political parties are often at odds, resulting in aggression.

Large bomb attacks, which were once almost regular occurrences in the Iraqi capital, have ceased in recent years, following the defeat of Islamic State fighters in 2017, as part of a broader change in security that has enabled Baghdad to return to normalcy.

Islamic State and competing Shia groups with militias supported by Iran are among the enemies of populist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, after whom Sadr city is named and who has a following of millions of Iraqis.

The news comes just hours after a drone attack in northern Iraq hit US-led coalition forces near Irbil airport and a Turkish military base.

African News Agency (ANA); Editing by