8 Jan 2017

Car bomb in Iraq kills 12, wounds dozens

10:00 pm on 8 January 2017

A car bomb blast has killed 13 people and wounded 50 others at a vegetable market in eastern Baghdad, police and medical sources say.

The explosion hit the mainly Shi'ite district of Jamila, the sources said.

Islamic State later claimed responsibility for the bombing in an online statement.

A series of attacks in the Iraqi capital and other cities in just over a week has killed dozens of people.

Several have been claimed by Islamic State, which is coming under increasing pressure from a US-backed offensive in Mosul, its last major stronghold in Iraq.

- Reuters