At Least 10 People Killed, Many Injured in Baghdad Explosion

Reports citing security and medical officials indicated that football players accounted for the majority of the victims.

Although an official cause of the blast has not been confirmed by authorities, security insiders have suggested that an explosive device had been attached to a vehicle and that the device reportedly caused the explosion of a nearby gas tanker once tripped.

Footage of the blast has surfaced on social media documenting the chaotic aftermath.

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The explosion, which was heard across much of Baghdad, happened near a football field in an eastern part of the city on Saturday night and sent shrapnel into residential buildings and into the pitch.

“Nine civilians were killed and 13 injured” when the tanker exploded, the commander of security forces in Baghdad, Ahmad Salim, said in a statement.

“The explosion is an accident and not an act of terrorism,” he added.

Most of the victims were amateurs playing football in their neighborhood stadium, the Reuters news agency reported.

Medical sources gave a higher casualty toll to the AFP news agency, with one saying 12 people had been killed.

An AFP correspondent said the windows of nearby buildings were blown out and vehicles in the area were damaged.

“We were at home and felt a very strong blast and a smell of gas,” resident Mohammed Aziz, who lives just 100 meters (330 feet) from the blast site, told AFP.

“It felt like we were suffocating,” he added. “Our doors and windows were blown out.”

Iraq’s recently-elected president, Abdul Latif Rashid, promised there would be an investigation to identify those responsible for the accident.