A suicide car bomb attack in a densely-populated neighbourhood of Baghdad on Monday killed at least 32 people and left dozens wounded, police and hospital officials said.
Many of the victims were daily labourers waiting for jobs at an intersection in Sadr City, a sprawling majority Shiite neighbourhood in the northeast of the capital that has been repeatedly targeted.
Pictures posted on social media shortly after the explosion showed a huge plume of black smoke billowing into the sky and seriously injured people being evacuated.
According to a police colonel, at least 32 people were killed and 61 wounded in the blast, the second major attack in Baghdad in three days.
Baghdad: explosion in Sadr city kill 35 & injure 60; 2 more explosions target 2 hospitals. At least 200 victims in explosions in last 3days. pic.twitter.com/EgHl1QFBBG
— Abdulla Hawez (@abdullahawez) January 2, 2017
At least 27 people were killed by twin explosions in a busy market area in central Baghdad on Saturday, in what was the deadliest such attack in the Iraqi capital in two months.
The caliphate IS proclaimed in 2014 is shrinking steadily and jihadist fighters are defending Mosul, their last major urban stronghold in Iraq.
Observers have voiced fears that the group, once it definitively loses its status as a land-holding force, could increasingly revert to targeting civilians in Iraq's cities.
IS claimed responsibility
The Islamic State terrorist group claimed responsibility for the suicide car bomb attack. The organisation took responsibility for the blast in Sadr City via its propaganda agency Amaq, claiming the "martyrdom operation" had killed around 40 people.
IS also claimed an attack in central Baghdad that killed at least 27 people on Saturday.
