IS claims twin bomb attacks at Baghdad mall

The Islamic State (IS) group on Saturday claimed responsibility for two bomb explosions at a busy mall in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad that killed 11 people and wounded 29 others, the group said in an online statement.

Two of the group's suicide bombers detonated a car bomb and an explosive belt at a crowd of Shiite people in Palestine Street, according to a brief statement, of which the authenticity could not be independently verified.

Earlier, a police source anonymously told Xinhua that two blasts occurred shortly before Friday midnight when a booby-trapped car detonated at the car park of al-Nakhil Mall in Palestine Street in eastern Baghdad, while a suicide bomber blew up his explosive-laden car at the busy street outside the mall building, leaving at least 11 people killed and 29 others wounded.

Iraqi security forces sealed off the area and blocked the roads leading to the scene, while ambulances and police vehicles evacuated the killed and wounded people to the city hospitals, the source added.

The deadly attack occurred as many people came to the mall for shopping before the celebration of Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha on Monday. The four-day annual festival is also known as the Feast of the Sacrifice, which marks the end of the spiritual peak of the annual pilgrimage or Hajj in Arabic, when pilgrims descend from the hill of Arafat to the nearby holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

The IS has frequently targeted areas where crowds of people gather, including markets, cafes and mosques across Iraq.

Terrorist acts, violence and armed conflicts killed 691 Iraqis and wounded 1,016 others in August across Iraq, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq said earlier.

Many blame the current chronic instability, cycle of violence, and the emergence of extremist groups, such as the IS, on the U.S. that invaded and occupied Iraq in March 2003. Endit