Ahmed Saad / Reuters People look at a burned vehicle at the site of car bomb attack in a busy square at Baghdad's sprawling Sadr City district, in Iraq January 2, 2017.

BAGHDAD/TIKRIT, Iraq, Jan 2 (Reuters) - An Islamic State car bomb killed 24 people in a busy square in Baghdad’s sprawling Sadr City district on Monday, and the militants cut a key road north from the capital to Mosul, their last major stronghold in the country.

An online statement distributed by Amaq news agency, which supports Islamic State, said the ultra-hardline Sunni group had targeted a gathering of Shi’ite Muslims, whom it considers apostates. Sixty-seven people were wounded in the blast.

U.S.-backed Iraqi forces are currently fighting to push Islamic State from the northern city of Mosul, but are facing fierce resistance. The group has lost most of the territory it seized in a blitz across northern and western Iraq in 2014.

The recapture of Mosul would probably spell the end for its self-styled caliphate, but the militants would still be capable of fighting a guerrilla-style insurgency in Iraq, and plotting or inspiring attacks on the West.

Three bombs killed 29 people across the capital on Saturday, and an attack near the southern city of Najaf on Sunday left seven policemen dead. Monday’s blast in Sadr City hit a square where day laborers typically gather.

Nine of the victims were women in a passing minibus. Their charred bodies were visible inside the burnt-out remains of the vehicle. Blood stained the ground nearby.

A separate blast near a hospital in central Baghdad killed one civilian and wounded nine, police and medical sources said.

“The terrorists will attempt to attack civilians in order to make up for their losses, but we assure the Iraqi people and the world that we are able to end terrorism and shorten its life,” Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told reporters after meeting with visiting French President Francois Hollande.

Hollande, whose country has faced a series of militant attacks in the past two years, said French soldiers serving in a U.S.-led coalition against the jihadists in Iraq were preventing more mass killings at home.

Ahmed Saad / Reuters People gather at the site of car bomb attack in a busy square at Baghdad's sprawling Sadr City district, in Iraq January 2, 2017.

ROAD TO MOSUL

Since the drive to recapture Mosul began on Oct. 17, elite forces have retaken a quarter of the city in the biggest ground operation in Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. Abadi has said the group will be driven out of the country by April.

Clashes continued in and around Mosul on Monday. The counter-terrorism service (CTS) blew up several Islamic State car bombs before they reached their targets, and linked up with the Rapid Response forces, an elite Interior Ministry unit, said spokesman Sabah al-Numani.

CTS was also clearing North Karma district of remaining militants, the fourth area the unit has retaken in the past week, he said.

Islamic State targeted military positions away from the main battlefield, killing at least 16 pro-government fighters and cutting a strategic road linking the city to Baghdad.

Militants attacked an army barracks near Baiji, 180 km (110 miles) north of the capital, killing four soldiers and wounding 12 people, including Sunni tribal fighters, army and police sources said.

They seized weapons there and launched mortars at nearby Shirqat, forcing security forces to impose a curfew and close schools and offices in the town, according to local officials and security sources.

Shirqat mayor Ali Dodah said Islamic State seized three checkpoints on the main road linking Baiji to Shirqat following the attacks. Shelling in Shirqat had killed at least two children, he told Reuters by phone.

In a separate incident, gunmen broke into a village near Udhaim, 90 km (56 miles) north of Baghdad, where they executed nine Sunni tribal fighters with shots to the head, police and medical sources said.

In the same area, at least three pro-government Shi’ite militia fighters were killed and seven wounded when militants attacked their position with mortar rounds and machine guns, police sources said.</s>BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi officials say a pair of suicide bombers detonated their explosives belts at a checkpoint south of Baghdad, killing nine people, including four members of the security forces.

The police and hospital officials said the Sunday attack near the holy Shiite city of Najaf also wounded 22.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which bore the hallmarks of Islamic militants.

The officials all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

It came one day after two suicide bombers killed at least 28 people at a Baghdad market.

That attack was claimed by the Islamic State group.

Baghdad has seen near-daily attacks blamed on Islamic militants since 2003.</s>BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi officials say a pair of suicide bombers detonated their explosives belts at a checkpoint south of Baghdad, killing nine people, including four members of the security forces.

The police and hospital officials said the Sunday attack near the holy Shiite city of Najaf also wounded 22.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which bore the hallmarks of Islamic militants.

The officials all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

It came one day after two suicide bombers killed at least 28 people at a Baghdad market.

That attack was claimed by the Islamic State group.

Baghdad has seen near-daily attacks blamed on Islamic militants since 2003.</s>An attack claimed by the Islamic State group on a police checkpoint in southern Iraq left at least seven people dead on Sunday, officials said.

Gunmen wearing suicide vests and driving an explosives-laden vehicle opened fire on the checkpoint near the town of Qadisiyah, which lies around 180 kilometres (110 miles) south of Baghdad.

“The security forces fought back, killing the attackers and blowing up the car,” an interior ministry statement said.

“They were planning to head to Najaf to blow themselves up there,” interior ministry spokesman Saad Maan said, referring to a holy Shiite city around 40 kilometres (25 miles) to the north.

Maan said seven people were killed by the attackers and 15 wounded. He said five policemen were among the dead.

The military commander for the area, Major General Qais al-Rahaima, gave the same death toll and said at least 11 were wounded.

Jihadist attacks in the overwhelmingly Shiite south of Iraq are rare but there have been infiltrations from the western desert of Anbar in recent months.

Najaf is considered a religious capital for Iraq’s Shiite majority and has always been seen as a major potential target for IS, which views Shiites as heretics.

The jihadist group claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attack in a statement that said five of its suicide attackers had been killed and putting the number of victims killed and wounded at 100.

The group had also claimed twin bombings at a market area in central Baghdad on Saturday that left at least 27 people dead and more than 50 wounded.</s>BAGHDAD -- Iraqi officials say a pair of suicide bombers detonated their explosives belts at a checkpoint south of Baghdad, killing nine people, including four members of the security forces.

The police and hospital officials said the Sunday attack near the holy Shiite city of Najaf also wounded 22.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which bore the hallmarks of Islamic militants.

The officials all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

It came one day after two suicide bombers killed at least 28 people at a Baghdad market.

That attack was claimed by the Islamic State group.

Baghdad has seen near-daily attacks blamed on Islamic militants since 2003.</s>BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi officials say a pair of suicide bombers detonated their explosives belts at a checkpoint south of Baghdad, killing nine people, including four members of the security forces.

The police and hospital officials said the Sunday attack near the holy Shiite city of Najaf also wounded 22.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which bore the hallmarks of Islamic militants.

The officials all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

It came one day after two suicide bombers killed at least 28 people at a Baghdad market.

That attack was claimed by the Islamic State group.

Baghdad has seen near-daily attacks blamed on Islamic militants since 2003.</s>The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a series of deadly attacks in Iraq since mid-October including three since New Year's Eve.

The latest on Monday saw at least 32 people killed in a suicide car bombing that targeted a Shiite neighbourhood of the capital Baghdad.

At least 27 people were also killed by twin explosions in a busy market area in central Baghdad on New Year's Eve, while another seven died on Sunday in an attack south of the Shiite shrine city of Najaf.

They were the latest in a spate of attacks since the army launched an offensive in mid-October to recapture Mosul, the country's second city and last remaining IS stronghold in Iraq. One on November 25 saw 70 people, mostly Shiite pilgrims, killed south of Baghdad.

The wave of violence has shocked many, but the attacks are still far from the deadliest since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003:

- July 3, 2016: 323 people are killed when a suicide truck bomber attacks a shopping area in the Baghdad district of Karrada.

- October 25, 2009: 153 people are killed and more than 500 wounded when two car bombs explode in Baghdad.

- August 14, 2007: More than 400 people are slaughtered when four suicide truck bombs target members of the ancient Yazidi religious sect in two Kurdish villages in northern Iraq.

- July 7, 2007: At least 140 people are killed in a suicide truck bombing in Amerli village in northern Iraq.

- April 18, 2007: A wave of car bomb attacks on Shiite districts of Baghdad leaves 190 dead.

- March 27, 2007: An anti-Shiite attack in the northern town of Tal Afar kills 152.

- February 3, 2007: A suicide truck bomb attack in a Baghdad market kills at least 130.

- November 23, 2006: At least 202 die in a string of car bombings in Baghdad's Sadr City.

- September 14, 2005: At least 128 people are killed in a series of suicide bombings in Shiite districts of Baghdad.

- March 2, 2004: Bomb attacks on Shiites in the holy city of Karbala and in Baghdad kill more than 170.</s>Iraq: Suicide bombing kills at least 22 in Baghdad

BAGHDAD - At least 22 people are dead after a suicide bomber blew up his vehicle in a bustling market area in Baghdad.

 

Police say the bomber attacked an outdoor fruit and vegetable market, day laborers and a police checkpoint in Baghdad's Sadr City.

 

Up to 35 other people were wounded.</s>Washington, DC - We condemn in the strongest possible terms terrorist attacks this weekend in Baghdad and Najaf. On Saturday, Dae’sh claimed dual attacks in the commercial area of the Al-Sinek neighborhood in Baghdad which killed at least 28 people. Today, multiple attacks, also claimed by Da’esh, have killed at least 35 more innocent civilians and injured scores of others. We extend our deepest condolences to the families of the victims and hope for a speedy recovery of all those wounded.

These vicious acts of mass murder are a sobering reminder of the need to continue coalition operations against Da’esh and to eliminate the threat this terrorist group poses. The U.S. reaffirms its commitment to support the government and people of Iraq in this struggle, and remains steadfast in its commitment to the Global Coalition efforts to degrade and defeat Da’esh.</s>The Islamic State launched multiple attacks in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities at the turn of the year that have killed scores of people.

At least 35 people were killed and dozens of others wounded by an explosion in a packed square in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad on January 2.

The blast from a car bomb occurred at an intersection in the northeastern Shi'ite neighborhood of Sadr City and reportedly struck a place where many day laborers wait for jobs.

In another attack in Samarra, 100 kilometers north of Baghdad, officials said multiple gunmen wearing suicide vests took over two police stations late on January 2, killing at least seven policemen. Security forces said they regained control after killing six militants.

IS, which has been locked in a bitter battle with government forces for control of the northern city of Mosul, claimed responsibility for both attacks via its Amaq news agency.

Other IS attacks in Baghdad in recent days targeted predominantly Shi'a areas.

Three bombs killed 29 people in the capital on December 31 and an attack by two suicide bombers at a checkpoint the following day in the southern city of Najaf -- a holy city for Shi'a -- killed at least eight people.

Based on reporting by Reuters and AFP
A series of attacks kill at least 70 people and injure more than 100 others in mostly Shiite neighborhoods of Baghdad, Iraq.