Share

Car bombs kill 51 in Baghdad Shi'ite neighbourhoods

Baghdad - A string of car bombs tore through busy shopping streets in several Baghdad neighbourhoods on Wednesday night killing 51 people as the army announced that one of its air strikes had killed 60 militants in the northern city of Mosul.

Baghdad police said the first attack was a pair of car bombs that exploded in the densely populated Shiite neighbourhood of Sadr City, killing 31 people, followed by another bomb in the nearby area of Ur that claimed another 11 lives.

Nine more people were killed in the southeast of the city shortly afterwards by two more car bombs.

Baghdad has been on edge since Sunni militants led by the radical Islamic State group conquered large swaths of the country's north, including the second largest city of Mosul. While the fighters have stopped short of advancing on the capital there has been a steady campaign of car bombs in the city, though none this deadly.

The attack came as state-run television announced a rare government victory with an air strike against a key building in Mosul that killed some 60 suspected militants earlier in the day.

The report, which cited unnamed intelligence officials, could not be independently verified, nor did it say whether any civilians had been killed in the strike on the northern city of Mosul.

The report said the strike freed about 300 people held by the Islamic State group at a down town Mosul prison it had been using as a religious court and detention centre, without elaborating.

A Mosul resident, speaking on condition of anonymity fearing for his own safety, told The Associated Press over the phone that families of the prisoners rushed to the site to help their relatives after the air strike.

"The prison was partly damaged in the air strike," he said. He said he did not know if there were casualties.

Phone calls to Iraqi officials rang unanswered on Wednesday.

Bullet-riddled

The onslaught by the Islamic State backed by local Sunni militants has plunged Iraq into its worst crisis since the withdrawal of US troops in 2011.

The group since has imposed a self-styled caliphate in territory it controls in Iraq and Syria, imposing their own harsh interpretation of Islamic law.

Iraqi government forces and allied Sunni tribal militiamen have been struggling to dislodge the militants with little apparent progress.

A few hours after the reported air strike, Islamic State group militants broke into a nearby hospital, ordered the morgue employees to stay in a separate room and put a number of corpses inside a refrigerator, a medical official said on condition of anonymity for his own safety.

Also on Wednesday, police discovered eight bullet-riddled and handcuffed corpses around Baghdad.

Six of them were found in the town of Taji, about 20km north of Baghdad, a police officer said. All were men between 25 to 35 years old.

Two other dead bodies, a man and woman, were found in the southeastern district of Zafaraniyah, another police officer said.

The number of corpses found with gunshot wounds has been on rise recently in a grim reminder of the sectarian killing that engulfed Iraq in 2006 and 2007. Then, both Shi'ite and Sunni death squads roamed the streets and raided homes to round up people.

Their corpses would later be found by police, often mutilated.

.

We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Voting Booth
Do you think corruption-accused National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula will survive a motion of no confidence against her?
Please select an option Oops! Something went wrong, please try again later.
Results
No, her days are numbered
41% - 303 votes
Yes, the ANC caucus will protect her
59% - 435 votes
Vote
Rand - Dollar
18.97
-0.3%
Rand - Pound
23.95
-0.3%
Rand - Euro
20.49
-0.1%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.37
-0.1%
Rand - Yen
0.13
-0.4%
Platinum
907.94
+1.2%
Palladium
1,014.30
+1.3%
Gold
2,213.20
+0.8%
Silver
24.81
+0.7%
Brent Crude
86.09
-0.2%
Top 40
68,312
+0.9%
All Share
74,502
+0.8%
Resource 10
57,145
+2.7%
Industrial 25
103,988
+0.7%
Financial 15
16,481
-0.3%
All JSE data delayed by at least 15 minutes Iress logo
Editorial feedback and complaints

Contact the public editor with feedback for our journalists, complaints, queries or suggestions about articles on News24.

LEARN MORE