Car bomb attack kills 4, injures 19 in Iraqi capital

Security officials in Iraq say at least four civilians have been killed and more than a dozen others wounded in a massive bomb explosion in a residential area of the capital, Baghdad.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said 19 people sustained injuries on Saturday noon, when an explosives-laden car went off near a small restaurant in Baghdad’s southwestern district of Hayy al-A’amel, Iraq’s al-Sumaria satellite TV network reported.

There has been no claim of responsibility for the bombing, but such attacks are usually blamed on the ISIL Takfiri terrorists.

Iraqis stand at the site of a car bomb explosion in Sadr City, north Baghdad, March 23, 2015. © AFP
The UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) says nearly 1,000 people were killed by violence last month, while over 2,170 others were injured.

According to the UN mission, the number of civilian fatalities stood at 729. Violence also claimed the lives of nearly 270 members of the Iraqi security forces in March.

A great portion of the fatalities was recorded in Baghdad, where more than 360 civilians were killed.

Northern parts of Iraq have been in chaos since ISIL started its campaign of terror in early June 2014. The terrorists are in control of the second-largest city of Mosul and they have swept through parts of the country’s Sunni Arab heartland.

Since then, Iraq’s army has been joined by Kurdish forces, Shia volunteers and Sunni tribesmen in operations to drive the ISIL terrorists out of the areas they have seized.