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Dozens killed in more IS attacks

Iraqi officials say the attack which lasted over an hour, killed at least 18 people and wounded 50 in the city’s mainly Shiite east.

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The group said that four of its suicide bombers carried out the attack on a gathering of Shiite crowds at al-Jawhara Mall in Baghdad al-Jadida in eastern Baghdad.

Reuters reported another vehicle bomb in Baghdad killed five people and wounded 12; three were killed and in a auto bomb attack in Baquba, northeast of Baghdad; and 20 died and 50 were wounded in twin bomb attacks in Muqdadiya.

A police captain, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to media, said that the gunmen had seized some of the mall patrons and clashed with police forces before detonating explosives.

Shia Muslim militiamen in eastern Iraq have carried out reprisal attacks against Sunni Muslims after a double bombing, security sources say.

“At least one of the attackers had a suicide vest and blew himself up inside the mall”, the official said.

At least 18 people were killed and another 40 injured in the attack.

Iraqi forces, backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes, are working to reclaim territory Islamic State seized after sweeping through large areas of western and northern Iraq in mid-2014.

Shortly after the attack, a back-to-back suicide attack targeted a cafe in the town of Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles (90 kilometers) north of Baghdad in Diyala province, killing at least 24 people and wounding 52.

 On Tuesday, a suicide bomb attack wounded a senior Iraqi police officer and killed two of his guards near Baquba, one of the sites of Monday’s attacks, police said.

Mr Abadi said that Iraq’s government will “spare no efforts” in expelling IS forces from the country. An interior ministry source meanwhile told the BBC that several attackers might have escaped, contradicting a claim by a police source that four had been arrested.

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Iraq declared victory over IS in Diyala early past year, but the persistent strife in the province paints a grim picture of the country’s future even after defeating the jihadists.

Iraqi security forces gather at the site of a car bomb in New Baghdad