BAGHDAD — A suicide bomber blew himself up late Wednesday at a crowded park in Iraq’s capital, killing at least seven people in the first such attack in Baghdad since the start a week ago of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, security officials said. They said police and emergency workers intercepted the bomber as he entered the park in Shoala, a mainly Shiite district in northern Baghdad, but he managed to set off his bomb before being caught. Muslims refrain from drink, food and sex from dawn to sunset during Ramadan, which began in Iraq on May 17. Iraq has been plagued by nearly daily attacks blamed on militants for most of the 15 years since the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. IS pockets remain in western and northern Iraq where militants occasionally attack security forces.

Source: National Post May 24, 2018 01:36 UTC