Deadly suicide car bombing in Baghdad

On 15 February 2017, a suicide bomber detonated a pick-up truck packed with explosives in northern Baghdad, killing at least nine people. Thirty others were wounded in the powerful blast in the Habibiya area, near Sadr City, a Shia majority neighbourhood in the Iraqi capital.

The explosion targeted a crowded street full of garages and used car dealers. The attack came a day after a car bomb explosion in southern Baghdad killed at least four people.

The Iraqi capital was rocked by a wave of deadly suicide bombings during the first days of 2017 but relatively few explosions had been reported since.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for blast, but nearly all suicide attacks are claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) armed group. In January 2, ISIL, which often targets crowded areas to maximise casualties, claimed responsibility for a suicide car bombing that killed 39 people in a busy market in Sadr City.  ISIL is defending Mosul, its major stronghold in Iraq, against a massive, four-month-old operation by an alliance forces.