At least six people were killed and 15 others wounded by a car bomb blast in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Saturday. The blast occurred in the central Martyr's Square, a local source told The New Arab. "Six people were killed and 15 others wounded after an explosives-laden vehicle was detonated in the central city square," a source in the interior ministry said. The area was corded off and security forces were deployed in anticipation of another attack.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, but Islamic State group militants have been known to carry out suicide and car bombings in Baghdad. The militant group is fighting to defend its Iraqi bastion of Mosul against a huge government offensive. Local security sources in Anbar province said at least six IS fighters were killed by a huge explosion west of the province on Saturday. The blast seems to have occurred accidently as militants were loading a truck with explosives, a source in the Iraqi forces told The New Arab. IS overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but Iraqi forces have since regained much of the territory they lost, and they are now battling to oust the militants from Mosul.
While IS has been pushed back from areas it once held in eastern and central Anbar, the militant group still controls several towns in the province's west, The New Arab reports.
