At least 28 people have been killed and 54 others wounded in a double bombing in the centre of Baghdad, according to Iraqi police and medical officials.
The blasts, blamed on two suicide bombers, went off on Saturday near car spare-parts shops in Al Sinak during the morning rush, police stated.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on its Amaq website.
The first blast occurred at the market's entrance while the second was inside the area, police stated.
All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to release the information.
Saad Maan, spokesman for the government's security agency, said the blasts were the handiwork of two suicide bombers wearing explosive belts.
Torn clothes and mangled iron were strewn across the ground in pools of blood at the site of the wreckage near Rasheed street, one of the main thoroughfares in Baghdad, an AFP news agency photographer stated.
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| Al Sinak market was struck during Saturday's early morning rush [Sabah Abrar/AFP] |
In a separate incident, security forces said on Saturday they had foiled a suicide car bombing targeting the mostly Shia district of Kadhimiyah in northern Baghdad.
"Acting on intelligence information, Iraqi forces in northern Baghdad tracked down a car bomb with two suicide bombers, who planned to detonate it in Kadhimiyah," the Baghdad Security Operations said in a statement.
"The forces ambushed the car, blew it up and killed the two bombers inside."
High alert
Baghdad has been on high alert since October 17, the start of Iraq's largest military operation in years to retake ISIL's stronghold of Mosul in the country's north.
ISIL, also known as ISIS, captured the important northern city of Mosul in 2014, and has launched several attacks in Baghdad in recent months.
Haider al-Abadi, Iraqi prime minister, had pledged earlier in 2016 that his forces would rid the country of ISIL by the end of the year, but the Mosul operation has been slower moving than expected.
This week he told a televised news conference that Iraqi forces would now require at least another three months.
Aljazeera