22 people killed and wounded dozens on Monday in Baghdad, just days after the government lifted a nighttime curfew that had been in place in the Iraqi capital for over a decade.
In the first attack, a suicide bomber set off an explosive vest in a busy Baghdad intersection crowded with rush-hour commuters early, killing at least 18 people. The bombing in Adan Square, located in a predominantly Shiite part of the capital, appeared to be the latest in a near-daily string of attacks by Sunni Islamic extremists targeting the country’s Shiite majority.
A police officer who provided the death toll said the attack also wounded 42 people.
Hours later, a bomb ripped through a commercial area in the capital’s northeastern suburb of Husseiniyah, killing four civilians and wounding nine, another police officer said.
Two medical officials confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.
The attacks came two days after Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi lifted a midnight to 5 a.m. curfew in the capital that had been in place in various forms since 2004, when Iraq was engulfed in violence following the U.S.-led invasion the year before.
The government has struggled to impose security following the 2011 withdrawal of U.S. forces. Last summer the Islamic State group, which has claimed several previous attacks in and around the capital, swept across a third of the country, capturing the second largest city Mosul. A U.S.-led coalition has been carrying out airstrikes against the extremist group since August.
