IS car bomb kills 13 outside Baghdad ice cream shop
A car bomb has exploded outside a popular ice cream shop in central Baghdad, killing 13 people and wounding 24.
The Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for the attack, which happened just after midnight on Tuesday.
Iraqi officials said it involved remotely-detonated explosives inside a parked car.
The attack came just days into the holy month of Ramadan when Muslims fast during daylight hours.
After sundown, families break their fast and Baghdad's restaurants and cafes quickly fill up.
JUST IN: Video shows aftermath of car bomb that exploded outside Baghdad ice cream shop, killing at least 10 people. https://t.co/6KThfMOhSe pic.twitter.com/bS32jZ90cw
— ABC News (@ABC) May 29, 2017
Videos posted on social media showed chaotic scenes on the streets surrounding the blast.
A number of wounded lay on the ground, others propped themselves up on the colourful park benches outside the ice cream shop.
One young girl, wearing a ribbon and bow in her hair, wandered the scene dazed.
Ramadan is often marked by an increase in violence in Iraq.
Last year, Baghdad was rocked by a huge truck bomb attack that targeted a popular retail district in the city centre where young people and families were shopping for new clothes before the holiday that marks the end of Ramadan.
That blast killed hundreds in the single deadliest event in Baghdad since Saddam Hussein was toppled in 2003.
IS also claimed responsibility for that bombing, which ultimately led to the resignation of Iraq's interior minister.
Iraqi troops are slowing pushing IS fighters out of their last strongholds in the northern city of Mosul.
Commanders say the offensive, which has entered its eighth month, will mark the end of the IS caliphate in Iraq, but admit the group will probably increase terror attacks in the wake of military defeats.
AP
