Twin blasts near Baghdad mall ahead of Eid kill 13
September 10, 2016  16:46
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Two overnight bomb blasts outside a shopping mall in central Baghdad killed at least 13 people and wounded more than 30, security and medical officials said on Saturday.

The blasts were the latest in a series of deadly attacks at Baghdad shopping centres this year, including one that killed more than 300 people in early July.

In the latest attack, one explosion came from a parked car and the other was caused by an explosives-laden vehicle driven by a suicide bomber outside Nakheel Mall on Palestine Street in the city centre, a police colonel said.

The blasts, which hit just before midnight on Friday, shattered windows at the multi-storey mall and damaged a fence surrounding it.

As people worked to clean up the rubble outside on Saturday, a private security company guarding the mall sought to prevent pictures being taken, seizing the cameras of several photographers.

Nakheel Mall opened last year and shops were likely to have remained open late ahead of the Muslim feast of Eid al-Azha which begins on Monday.

The mall also houses one of the city's most popular cinemas.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the twin bombings, but the Islamic State group has said it carried out other attacks at Baghdad shopping centres this year as well as almost all suicide bombings in the capital.
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