REPORT: Dozens killed in overnight Baghdad blast

Nearly 120 people were killed and 200 wounded in two bombings overnight in Baghdad, most of them in a busy shopping area as residents celebrated Ramadan, police and medical sources said on Sunday.

 

The attack on the shopping area of Karrada is the deadliest since US-backed Iraqi forces last month scored a major victory when it dislodged Islamic State from their stronghold of Falluja, an hour's drive west of the capital. It is also the deadliest so far this year.

In an online statement, IS claimed responsibility for the Sunday morning attack, which struck a busy shopping district of the capital. The statement could not be independently verified.
     
The bombing hit as families and young people were out on the streets of Karada district after breaking their Ramadan fast.
     
A second bomb attack in eastern Baghdad on Sunday morning killed five people and wounded 16.
     
The casualty figures were confirmed by police and hospital officials, who spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to release information to the press.
 
The attacks come after Iraqi forces retook the city of Fallujah from IS.