Gunmen attack shopping mall in Baghdad, 18 killed

There were conflicting reports on casualties, with AFP quoting police as saying seven people had been killed, while AP put the figure higher at 10, including three police.

All the hostages were considered to be girls, security sources told the BBC.

The IS rampage across Iraq in the summer of 2014 was halted several miles away from Baghdad, but the extremist group has claimed a number of attacks in the heavily guarded capital since then. Shortly afterward, the group clashed with nearby security forces then stormed the mall, taking between 50 and 75 people hostage.

The attack occurred at the Al Jawaher mall in the predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad Jadida.

Police said a counter-terrorism force from the intelligence services was deployed to the scene of the attack.

The news agency’s sources said it wasn’t immediately clear if the assailants, who may have been wearing suicide vests, had killed anyone or taken hostages at the shopping center.

The IS statement said the attack was carried out by “four soldiers of the caliphate” and targeted Shiites.

One police official suggested there may have been more than one auto bomb blast in the early stages of the attack.

“They are inside the Zahrat Baghdad mall”.

Analysts see that a reason for the drop in attacks targeting civilians in the capital which were an nearly daily occurrence two years ago.