Deadly car bombings rocks Baghdad; at least 12 killed, 27 injured

Baghdad: At least 12 people were killed and 27 others injured in two car bombings at busy commercial areas in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad early Sunday, an Interior Ministry source said.

One attack occurred at about 1:00 a.m. local time when a suicide bomber detonated his car bomb at a crowded thoroughfare in Karrada-Dakhil in southern central Baghdad, killing 11 people and wounding 22 others, the source said told Xinhua.

Several shops were damaged and several cars were destroyed by the powerful blast, the source said.

Another explosion ripped through the capital after midnight when a booby-trapped car went off at Shallal popular market, killing at least one and wounding five others along with destroying several nearby shops and stalls.

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