BAGHDAD - A suicide bomber struck near a checkpoint in a Shiite area of northern Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least 12 people, Iraqi security and medical officials said. The Islamic State group carries out frequent suicide bombings targeting Iraqi security forces and members of the country's Shiite majority, including earlier this month in Baghdad's central Karrada district, picturedThe blast also wounded at least 22 people, the officials said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but the Islamic State jihadist group carries out frequent suicide bombings targeting both Iraqi security forces and members of the country's Shiite majority, whom it considers heretics. IS overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but Iraqi forces have since regained significant ground and are conducting operations to set the stage for the battle to recapture Mosul, the last IS-held city in the country. A suicide bomber targeted shoppers in Baghdad's central Karrada district earlier this month, killing 292 people, while an attack on a Shiite shrine in Balad, north of the capital, left 40 dead a few days later.

Source: Bangkok Post July 24, 2016 07:41 UTC