Scores killed in Baghdad bombings

At least 82 people were killed and more than 200 wounded in two bombings that hit Baghdad around midnight Saturday, nearly all of them in a blast targeting a busy shopping area as they celebrated Ramadan, hospital and police officials have said.

The powerful explosions came near the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan when the streets were filled with young people and families out after sunset.

The vast majority of the causalities came in the first attack, as a truck-refrigerator laden with explosives blew up in the Karrada district in central Baghdad, killing 75 people and injuring at least 200.

Shortly afterward, an improvised explosive device went off in eastern Baghdad. Reports said at least at least five people were killed in that attack, and 16 were wounded.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group claimed responsibility for the attack, in a statement circulated online by supporters of the ultra-hard line Sunni group. It said the blast was a suicide bombing

A truck-refrigerator packed with explosives blew up in Karrada, killing 80 people and injuring at least 200. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the second bombing.

Iraqi forces last month dislodged Islamic State militants from Falluja, their stronghold just west of the capital that had served as a launch pad for such attacks. However, despite a string of territorial gains by Iraqi ground forces against ISIL, the armed group has repeatedly shown it remains capable of launching attacks in Iraqi territory far from the front-lines.

ISIL still controls Iraq's second largest city of Mosul.