Updated 1.22pm

Citizens inspect the scene after a car bomb explosion Source: Karim Kadim

A SUICIDE CAR bomb attack in a densely-populated neighbourhood of Baghdad has killed at least 32 people and left dozens wounded today, police and hospital officials have said.

Many of the victims were daily labourers waiting for jobs at an intersection in Sadr City, a sprawling majority Shiite neighbourhood in the northeast of the capital that has been repeatedly targeted.

Pictures posted on social media shortly after the explosion showed a huge plume of black smoke billowing into the sky and seriously injured people being evacuated.

Source: Karim Kadim

According to a police colonel, at least 32 people were killed and 61 wounded in the blast, the second major attack in Baghdad in three days.

At least 27 people were killed by twin explosions in a busy market area in central Baghdad on Saturday, in what was the deadliest such attack in the Iraqi capital in two months.

Islamic State 

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility both attacks.

The jihadist organisation took responsibility for today’s blast in Sadr City via its propaganda agency Amaq, claiming the “martyrdom operation” had killed around 40 people.

- © AFP 2017

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