2nd LD-Writethru: 2 killed, 8 wounded in car bomb blast in Iraq's Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- At least two people were killed and eight others wounded Saturday in a car bomb explosion in northern Baghdad, an Iraqi Interior Ministry source said.

The blast took place in the evening when a booby-trapped car went off in the busy Adan Square at the entrance of the holy Shiite neighborhood of Kadhmiyah, destroying several nearby civilian cars, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Iraqi security forces sealed off the scene, while ambulances and civilian vehicles evacuated the victims to nearby hospitals and medical centers, the source said, citing first police reports.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Islamic State (IS) militant group, in most cases, is responsible for deadly attacks targeting crowded areas, including markets, cafes and mosques across Iraq.

The car bombing is the first this year in Baghdad city, which has been witnessing tangible improvement in security as the Iraqi security forces managed during the past few months to regain control of strongholds of the extremist IS militant group across the country.

On Dec. 9, 2017, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi officially declared full liberation of Iraq from IS militants after Iraqi forces recaptured all the areas once seized by the extremist group.

Nevertheless, remnants of small groups and individuals of IS militants are still capable of carrying out attacks from time to time. Enditem