At least eight people have been killed and a further 19 wounded after a suicide bomber blew himself up near a Shiite mosque in eastern Baghdad on Wednesday. While no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, suicide bombings in the country are almost exclusively carried out by the Islamic State jihadist group, reported AFP.
The Islamic State, which overran large areas north and west of Baghdad last year, considers Shiites to be religious outcasts and frequently target them with bombings in crowded areas of Baghdad. Although Iraqi forces have retaken significant territory north of the capital, much of the country’s west remains under jihadist control.
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