Baghdad: The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a car bomb that killed at least 13 people and wounded about 30 in the early hours today in a commercial street of central Baghdad, according to security sources. The bombing targeted the Karrada district, which was hit by a massive truck bomb in July 2016 that killed at least 324 people, the deadliest attack in Iraq since the US-led invasion of the country in 2003.
The 2016 blast was also claimed by Islamic State. Both bombings happened during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, during which people stay up late and many eat out to prepare for the fast the next day. Islamic State's Amaq news agency claimed Tuesday's attack in Karrada, a mainly Shi'ite Muslim district.
The hardline Sunni group has been retreating in Iraq since the end of 2015 in the face of U.S.-backed government forces and Iranian-backed Shi'ite paramilitary groups. It is now besieged in an enclave in the northern city of Mosul, which it has used as its de facto capital in Iraq. Islamic State declared a "caliphate" over parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014.
