84 people die in car bomb attacks in Baghdad

Two suicide car bomb attacks at two crowded commercial areas in the Iraqi capital early on Sunday killed 84 people and wounded more than 130 others, officials said.

One attack took place in Karrada-Dakhil district when a suicide bomber detonated his car bomb at a crowded thoroughfare in south central Baghdad, Xinhua news agency and other media reports said.

The powerful blast set fire to several nearby shops and destroyed many stalls and civilian cars at the scene, which was crowded with shoppers who were preparing their families for Eid ul-Fitr.

The Iraqi capital was the scene of another attack after midnight when a booby-trapped car went off at the Shallal market in Baghdad's northeastern district of Shaab, killing five civilians, the media reported.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi visited Karrada on Sunday morning and vowed to punish the terrorists.

Iraq has been hit by a new wave of violence since the Islamic State terrorist group seized parts of Iraq's northern and western regions in June 2014.

--IANS

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