At least five people were killed and 19 others injured in a auto bomb explosion at a crowded commercial area in Karrada neighborhood in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, a police source told Xinhua on Tuesday.
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Hospital sources said 20 people were also wounded in the blast and there were fears the death toll could rise as recovery operations continued.
Police said an explosives-laden truck detonated near the Abdel Majid hospital in Baghdad’s Karrada neighbourhood, a little before midnight local time, setting nearby shops on fire.
A medical official confirmed the casualty figures.
Iraq has witnessed worsening violence since the Islamic State (IS) group took control of parts of its northern and western regions in June 2014.
Early on Tuesday morning, mourners held a funeral procession for some of the dead.
That attack, like this one and another in July, targeted a predominantly Shiite neighborhood. The area is usually packed with shoppers, especially ahead of next week’s Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, or the Festival of Sacrifice, which marks the end of the annual Hajj pilgrimage.
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On 3 July, a coordinated bomb attack, the worst ever in Baghdad’s history, hit the same location, killing more than 300 people and injured nearly 200. The Karradah disaster put the Iraqi government under pressure to improve security in the capital and to rein in corruption.
