Bomb blasts in markets across Baghdad kill 23 people

Bombs left inside busy markets in mainly Sunni Muslim districts of Baghdad killed at least 23 people on Thursday, police said, in statements carried by Reuters.

Four bombs in Saba al-Bur north of the capital killed 15 people, while another in the predominantly Sunni neighborhood of Dura in south Baghdad killed eight, the officials said.

Militants in Iraq often bomb areas where crowds of people gather, and have targeted markets, football fields, cafes mosques, weddings and funerals this year, reported Agence France-Presse.

Also on Thursday, a magnetic “sticky bomb” on a car killed a policeman and wounded two civilians in the northern city of Mosul, reported AFP.

A similar device killed an employee of a local television station and wounded a second in Baquba, north of Baghdad.

With the latest violence, almost 700 people have been killed this month and over 4,500 since the beginning of the year, according to AFP figures based on security and medical sources.

(With Reuters and AFP)