Series of deadly bombings hit Iraqi capital

A series of bombings targeting commercial areas of Baghdad have killed 22 people and left scores wounded as residents were heading out on the town in the latest spasm of violence to strike the Iraqi capital, according to officials.

The attacks happened on Thursday within minutes of each other, suggesting a coordinated assault favoured by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, an al-Qaeda-inspired group that is behind much of the bloodshed in Iraq.

A car bomb exploded after sunset in a commercial street in the Sunni-dominated northern neighbourhood of Azamiyah, killing 12 people and wounding 28.

Thursday night is a popular time for Iraqis to go out, as the local weekend begins the following day.

Minutes later, another bomb exploded near a market in the same neighbourhood, killing seven and wounding 27.

Those blasts were followed by an explosion in a shopping street in the capital’s Aamiriyah district, killing three people and wounding 15 others.

Medics confirmed the casualties for all attacks. All officials spoke anonymously because they were not authorised to talk to the media.

The blasts struck little more than a month before Iraqis head to the polls in parliamentary elections scheduled for April 30, the country’s first national vote since US troops left in late 2011.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for any of the attacks.

Last year, the country saw its highest death toll since the worst of the country’s sectarian bloodletting began to subside in 2007, according to UN figures.