BAGHDAD
At least 15 people were killed and 41 others injured in separate bomb attacks in Iraqi’s capital Baghdad on Monday, according to initial reports from security officials.
The deadly blasts come after the country’s government ended an eight-year curfew which had been in force on the capital’s streets.
Iraqi security sources said that at least 10 people died in one suicide bomb attack which occurred in Qasimiyeh, a Shiite-populated area of the city.
Separately, five people were killed and 10 others were wounded by an improvised explosive device which detonated near a mosque in al-Husseiniya district – another predominantly Shiite suburb in northeastern Baghdad, police said.
“Extra security measures will be taken to prevent the recurrence of same incidents in the region”, said Ghalib al-Zamili, a member of the local Provincial Council's security committee.
Zamili blamed the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, accusing the group of wanting to move attacks to the north and west of Baghdad with bombing incidents in last 48 hours.
On Saturday, ISIL militants launched bloody attacks in the capital; at least 27 people were killed and dozens of others were injured in multiple explosions, according to police sources.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi decided Thursday to end Baghdad’s eight-year curfew from Saturday, a measure first implemented by former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki because of Shiite-Sunni conflict.
Iraq has been gripped by a security vacuum since June 2014 when ISIL stormed the northern province of Mosul and declared a self-styled caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria.
