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Iraq conflict: Baghdad ice cream parlour hit by suicide attack Iraq conflict: Baghdad ice cream parlour hit by suicide attack
(about 5 hours later)
A suicide attacker detonated a car bomb outside an ice cream parlour in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, killing at least 10 people and injuring many more. Two car bomb explosions in the heart of the Iraqi capital Baghdad have killed at least 26 people and wounded 95 others, sources say.
The attack happened in the mainly Shia Muslim Karrada district where a crowd of people had broken their fast after sundown during Ramadan, officials said. The first ripped through an ice cream shop just after midnight (21:00 GMT on Monday) in the Karrada district, where a crowd had broken their Ramadan fasts.
So-called Islamic State (IS) said via its Amaq news agency that the target had been "a gathering" of Shia. The Sunni jihadist group Islamic State said it had targeted a group of Shia.
IS has carried out many attacks on Shia, whom it regards as apostates. There was no immediate claim for the second blast, which happened a few hours later in Karkh.
Brett McGurk, the US envoy to the coalition against IS, condemned the overnight attack in a post on Twitter. The scene of the attack, near the headquarters of the government's pensions directorate in Shuhada Square, is also believed to have been busy.
"Isis [IS] terrorists tonight in Baghdad target children & families enjoying time together at an ice cream shop. We stand w/Iraq against this evil," he said. An interior ministry source said 11 people were killed and 35 wounded.
IS has stepped up attacks in the capital since the Iraqi army, backed by the US-led coalition, launched a campaign to retake the city of Mosul in the north four months ago. During Ramadan, when Muslims fast from dawn until sunset, many Baghdad residents stay up past midnight and eat out at restaurants and cafes.
Dozens of people were reportedly sitting on benches outside the popular al-Faqma ice cream parlour in Karrada, a predominantly Shia commercial area, when a car parked on the street nearby exploded.
A video posted on social media after the blast showed a young girl wandering around the scene dazed as a man screamed for help, while photos showed ice cream cups scattered on the bloodstained pavement.
Health ministry sources told the BBC that 15 people were killed and 60 wounded.
IS said an Iraqi suicide bomber had detonated an explosives-filled vehicle targeting a "gathering" of Shia, whom it considers irredeemable apostates.
The US envoy to the multinational coalition against IS, Brett McGurk, condemned the attack and expressed solidarity with Iraq.
"[IS] terrorists tonight in Baghdad target children & families enjoying time together at an ice cream shop. We stand w/Iraq against this evil," he wrote on Twitter.
Ramadan, which began on Saturday, is often marked by increased violence in Iraq.
Last July, at least 324 people were killed in a truck bomb attack on a shopping centre in Karrada, where families were buying new clothes for Eid al-Fitr.
IS said it was behind the bombing, the deadliest single incident in Baghdad since the US-led invasion in 2003 that toppled Saddam Hussein.
Tuesday's attacks come as Iraqi security forces continue an offensive to recapture the northern city of Mosul, the last major IS urban stronghold in the country.