Twin bombings leave 17 dead in Iraq

At least 17 people were killed and dozens wounded in two bomb blasts in a commercial district of Baghdad, officials said.

Police say the blasts – which were both car bombs, one a suicide attack – went off just ten minutes apart, in Karrada, a popular commercial area of Baghdad. The bombs struck on Saturday night, near restaurants and coffee shops filled with customers.

The first explosion was a suicide car bomb which killed seven people, while the second bomb killed 10. Dozens were also wounded as a result of the attacks.

Medical officials confirmed the toll and all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to journalists.

The attacks follow a wave of car bombings on Thursday, which killed 11 people and wounded more than 40.Another nine people died in two car bombings in Baghdad on Monday.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group claimed it had carried out those attacks on Shiite districts of Baghdad to avenge attacks on displaced persons from a Sunni province. Iraqi government forces are currently fighting to dislodge ISIL militants from north and west Iraq.