Interior ministry spokesman Saad Maan said the attack was carried out by a female suicide bomber, while a police colonel said a roadside bombing was followed by the suicide attack. / AFP PHOTO / AHMAD AL-RUBAYE
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) – Attacks including an Islamic State group suicide bombing killed at least 25 people in Baghdad Tuesday, the latest in a series of deadly blasts to hit Iraq’s capital, officials said.
The attacks also wounded at least 71 people, officials said.
The deadliest attack hit the Shaab area in northern Baghdad, killing at least 15.
Interior ministry spokesman Saad Maan said it was carried out by a female suicide bomber, while a police colonel said a roadside bombing was followed by the suicide attack.
But the Islamic State jihadist group issued a statement claiming the attack and saying it was carried out by a man, whom it identified as Abu Khattab al-Iraqi.
The bomber threw hand grenades and then detonated a suicide belt, IS said.
Attacks by female suicide bombers are rare in Iraq, though they were once more common than they have become in recent years.
In some of the deadliest attacks by women in Iraq, two mentally handicapped women wearing suicide vests killed nearly 100 people at Baghdad pet markets in early 2008.
Two women also detonated explosives at one of the country’s holiest Shiite sites the following year, killing more than 60 people, while a 2010 attack on Shiite pilgrims by a female bomber left over 40 dead.
In a second attack in the Iraqi capital on Tuesday, a car bombing in the Rashid area of southern Baghdad killed at least three people, officials said.
An explosives-rigged vehicle also blew up in the Sadr City area of north Baghdad, killing at least seven.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the car bombings. IS has claimed a series of other attacks in and near Baghdad that have killed more than 100 people in seven days.
The jihadists carried out triple car bombings in northern Baghdad that killed at least 94 people, and a further 12 died in attacks on a police station west of the capital and a gas plant to its north.
Attacks in the city decreased following a June 2014 IS offensive that saw its fighters focus on holding territory and fighting battles in other areas.
But Iraqi forces have regained significant ground from IS, and the frequency of attacks in the capital has increased in recent weeks.