String of car bomb attacks kill 50 in Baghdad

A series of car bomb attacks in Baghdad have killed at least 50 people and wounded scores more, media and police officials said.

At least 38 people were killed in two car bombings in Shia-dominated areas of western Baghdad on Saturday night.

In the first bombing, a suicide bomber is said to have rammed his explosive-laden car into a security checkpoint in Baghdad’s northern district, killing 13 people, including three police officers, and injuring 28.

A further seven people were killed and 18 were wounded in a second car bombing in a commercial street in Shula district in northwestern Baghdad. A third blast caused by a suicide bomber killed another 12 people and injured 40 others.

Nobody has yet to claim responsibility for the attacks, but critics say that the bombings may be in protest against the Iraqi army’s insurgence against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Group (ISIL).

Anbard, just west of Baghdad, has been the scene of intense battles between Iraqi government forces and ISIL fighters, who have taken control of large sections of northern and western Iraq this year.