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4 killed in suicide car bombing in Iraq's Basra

Xinhua, April 4, 2016 Adjust font size:

At least 4 people were killed and six others wounded on Monday in a suicide car bomb attack in Iraq's southern city of Basra, a local police source said.

The suicide bomber detonated his explosive packed car at a busy intersection in al-Khoura district in downtown Basra, some 550 km south of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, the source said on condition of anonymity.

At least six cars nearby were set ablaze by the powerful blast, the source said.

The attack in the oil-hub city of Basra came as part of a wave of suicide bomb attacks in and near Baghdad and another near the city of Nassriyah that left at least 11 people killed and some 40 others wounded.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the bombings, but the Islamic State (IS) militant group is believed to be behind most such attacks in the past, which usually targeted crowded areas like markets, cafes and mosques.

Iraq has been suffering from a wave of violence since the IS terrorist group took control of parts of its northern and western regions in June 2014.

A UN report estimates that more than 22,300 people were killed or injured in armed conflicts in Iraq in 2015 alone. Endit