Dozens killed in more IS attacks

Seven people, including two policemen, were killed in the auto bomb blast near the Jawaher mall in the predominately Shiite district of Baghdad Jadida, police and medical sources said.

An Iraqi security official said the attackers killed at least 17 people, including five members of the security forces, and that almost 40 were wounded.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi condemned the mall attack on Tuesday after visiting the site, calling it “a desperate attempt by terrorist gangs after our forces’ victories in Ramadi and other areas”.

Meanwhile, a source from the interior ministry anonymously said that security sources regained control of the mall once they killed the two suicide bombers.

Another deadly attack was carried out in the town of Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles (90 kilometers) north of Baghdad in Diyala province. A second explosion – from a suicide vehicle bomber, officials said – struck outside the cafe as victims were being evacuated and security forces and paramedics were arriving on the scene.

Officials now believe all the attackers have been killed but previously estimated that about 50-75 people were trapped in the mall, according to the Associated Press news agency.

Shia Muslim militiamen in eastern Iraq have carried out reprisal attacks against Sunni Muslims after a double bombing, security sources say.

According to Iraqi officials, at least 50 others were wounded in the attack that lasted over an hour.

Baghdad’s highly fortified Green Zone, home to a number of foreign embassies and most of the country’s political elite, was shut down soon after. But lately, as the Islamic State, whose predecessor was al-Qaida in Iraq, has focused on holding the territory it controls, Baghdad has been relatively safer.

The area around the mall, located in a busy commercial area of Baghdad al-Jadida, a populous Shiite-majority area on the eastern edge of the Iraqi capital, suffered extensive damage.

At least three people were killed and eight wounded in another auto bomb blast in Nahrawan, south of Baghdad.

The attack comes two weeks after the Islamic State was driven out of the western city of Ramadi by Iraqi government troops.