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Local memorial for Iraq bombing victims

On Tuesday, at least 12 people were killed in a suicide auto bombing at an outdoor vegetable and fruit market in al-Rashidiya.

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At least three people were killed and 14 others were injured on Wednesday in a suicide auto bomb attack in Baghdad, an interior ministry source said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blasts, although the Islamic State (IS) group has carried out many similar bombings in the capital and other parts of Iraq. The bomb on Tuesday, killed at least 10 people and injured tens of others, officials said.

Six civilians and two policemen were killed when a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle filled with explosives into a checkpoint in the al Rashidiya district on Wednesday morning.

U.S. defence secretary Ash Carter on Monday, July 11, announced the dispatch of 560 additional soldiers to Iraq, most of whom will work from Qayara to assist the Iraqi thrust towards Mosul. It was behind two large-scale attacks last week that killed around 300 people. A massive truck bombing struck a bustling commercial area in Baghdad’s neighborhood of Karada, killing 292 people – one of the deadliest attacks since the 2003 US-led invasion. In another attack last Thursday, 37 people were killed during an attack on a Shiite shrine north of Baghdad.

Iraqi government forces deployed in most of Baghdad on Tuesday, closing off main roads and snarling traffic.

That said, analysts also describe the group as potentially entering a new phase in their operations, one more defined by the type of brutal coordinated attacks that occurred in Paris in November of 2015, and in Baghdad this month.

Iraq is marking the anniversary of the 1958 overthrow of the monarchy and recent victories over the extremist Islamic State group with a military parade staged in central Baghdad.

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According to al-Moamen, Iraqi soldiers were among the casualties in the attack.

Civilians gather at the scene of a suicide car bombing at an outdoor market northeast of Baghdad on Tuesday. — AP