Iraqi authorities say 12 people have been killed in series of attacks today targeting public places Baghdad.
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According to police reports on Saturday, five people were killed and 13 others were injured after a vehicle bomb hit shops selling vehicle parts in southern Baghdad about noon local time.
Another bomb blast at an outdoor market killed three shoppers and wounded eight in the city’s eastern suburbs. Security sources said a similar bombing in the capital’s western part claimed the lives of two while ten people were reported injured in the incident.
An explosion at a fruit and vegetable market in southern Baghdad killed two people and wounded three.
“The intelligence service was able to arrest the wanted man Abd Al Baqi Al Sa’adoon”, Abadi announced in a televised speech.
Iraqi health officials have confirmed the casualties of the attacks. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to the media.
Al-Sadoun is also accused of recruiting and financing foreign terrorists in eastern and central Iraq, and is believed to be responsible for attacks against Iraqi civilians and police in the Iraqi cities of Nasiriya and Basra in the south, and in Diyala as well.
Meanwhile, Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi announced on Saturday that security forces arrested Abdel Baqi Al Sadun, a senior official in the disbanded Baath Party.
The Iraqi government and the US military frequently blamed remnants of the former regime, as well as foreign militants, for much of the insurgent violence that erupted in the country after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 and after the US pullout from the country 2011.
He was the five of diamonds in the United States military deck of cards picturing the most-wanted officials from Saddam’s regime.
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Al-Abadi provided no details on the arrest, except that al-Sadun was captured on Thursday.
