Suicide bombings in Baghdad and nearby town kill 31

Two suicide attacks in and around the Iraqi capital have killed at least 31 people and wounded dozens. The deadliest attack took place in a commercial area of a majority Shia neighbourhood in Baghdad. At least 19 civilians were killed and 46 wounded, police said.

Another suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into an Iraqi army checkpoint north of Baghdad, killing at least 12 people, police said.

Seven civilians and five troops were killed in the attack in the town of Taji, about 12 miles north of the capital, a police officer said. At least 32 people were wounded, he added. Medical officials confirmed the casualty figures.

In an online statement, the Islamic State (Isis) terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attack in the New Baghdad neighbourhood, saying it targeted Shia militia members. It later claimed responsibility for the Taji bombing in a second online statement, saying it was targeting the Iraqi army.

The authenticity of the statements could not be verified, but they were posted on a militant website used by the extremists.

The Sunni militant group often targets Iraq’s Shia majority, security forces and government officials. Baghdad has seen near-daily attacks in recent weeks.

Social fabric

In a statement, the UN special envoy to

Iraq

,

Jan Kubis

, described the attacks as “cowardly acts”, saying they “not only aim at inflicting a heavy toll on the civilian population, but also seek to weaken the country’s unity and destroy its social fabric”. “The

Daesh

terrorists should not be allowed to succeed,” he added, using the Arabic language acronym for

Isis

.

The deadly attacks in the capital and beyond are seen by Iraqi officials as an attempt by the militants to distract the security forces’ attention from the front lines.

The attacks came a day after Iraqi special forces pushed into the Isis-held city of Falluja in a large-scale military operation launched last month.

Falluja, about 60km west of Baghdad, is one of the last major Isis strongholds in western Iraq. The extremist group still controls territory in the country's north and west, as well as Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city.

In a separate development, Isis insurgents have posted a video showing a 3,000-year-old temple being blown up at the Assyrian city of Nimrud in northern Iraq, in their latest assault on some of the world’s greatest archaeological and cultural treasures.

The UN confirmed in a statement on Wednesday evening satellite imagery showed “extensive damage to the main entrance” of the temple of Nabu, the Babylonian god of wisdom. The date of the Isis video was unclear and its authenticity could not be independently verified.

It also showed scenes of bulldozers razing the ancient Gate of Nergal, part of the historic Nineveh city wall in Mosul, which was reported earlier this year.

A bearded man in the video said that the destruction was meant to prevent Muslims from returning to idolatry. The group considers all pre-Islamic culture idolatrous, along with any religion outside its own radical interpretation of Sunni Islam. – (PA/Reuters)