Suicide bombers target Shia processions in Baghdad

Suicide bombers attacked two Shia processions in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, killing at least 10 people and wounding more than 40, police and medical sources said.

A bomber targeted a market in the Amil neighbourhood of southern Baghdad on Monday, killing at least six people and wounding 16.

A similar attack hit a procession in the eastern Mashtal district, killing five and wounding 18, the sources added. 

Ali al-Fraiji, an Iraqi journalist, told Al Jazeera from Baghdad that a third attack also took place that killed three people and injured seven others.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS), claimed responsibility for the blasts that took place at events commemorating Ashoura, which marks the killing of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, by the army of Caliph Yazid in 680 AD.

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ISIL overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, and while the group has since lost significant ground, it retains the capacity to carry out frequent attacks in government-held areas.

At least 4,400 American troops are in Iraq as part of a US-led coalition providing extensive air support, training, and logistics advice to the Iraqi military, which collapsed in 2014 in the face of ISIL’s advance towards Baghdad.

The US plans to send about 600 more American soldiers to Iraq to prepare local forces for the upcoming battle to retake Mosul from ISIL fighters.

US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter announced last Wednesday that the troops will advise Iraqi soldiers and provide logistics support and intelligence for the operation to recapture the country’s second-largest city from ISIL.