A similar attack in Rashidiya on Tuesday, also claimed by the Sunni Islamist group, killed nine people.
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USA and Iraqi officials have touted such bombings as proof that battlefield setbacks are weakening Islamic State, but critics say a global uptick in suicide attacks attributed to the group suggests the opposite.
Speaking to Associated Press on the condition of anonymity, a medical official confirmed the casualty figures.
USA forces already share intelligence with their Iraqi counterparts, the defense secretary said, noting he is directing the Joint Improvised-Threat Defeat Agency – which leads the department’s efforts to counter improvised explosive device – to provide additional assistance that could enhance security in Baghdad.
The IS claimed two attacks in Baghdad last week, including a massive truck bomb that hit a busy commercial area in Baghdad’s Karada neighborhood and killed at least 292 people.
Five more people died in bombings today elsewhere in Iraq.
A small group of US forces surveyed the airfield shortly after it was seized by the Iraqis, but USA military officials said it was unclear how much time it would take before cargo planes and other aircraft could land there.
Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier General Saad Maan said the troops were “practising for a planned military parade for a specific occasion”. Maan didn’t name the occasion, but the country is due to mark the anniversary of its 1958 overthrow of a Hashemite monarchy and the declaration of Iraq as a republic on Thursday.
Army Gen. John Nicholson told reporters that about 400 of the forces deployed outside Afghanistan will be part of the US commitment to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation advise-and-assist mission.
As ISIS has lost territory in Iraq and Syria, it has reverted to using terrorist tactics against foreign targets both in the West and in the Iraq capital of Baghdad.
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The territorial gain, which followed the recapture of a key air base nearby at the weekend, further isolated Mosul in preparation for a government assault to recover Iraq’s second largest city 60 km (40 miles) to the north. AP material published by LongIsland.com, is done so with explicit permission. Doing so may result in civil and/or criminal penalties. Please see our terms of service for more information.
