Deaths in car bomb market attack near Baghdad

At least nine people have been killed and dozens wounded in a car bombing at an outdoor market in a district just north of Iraq’s capital, Baghdad, according to police sources.

Police said a parked car packed with explosives blew up on Tuesday morning at a vegetable and fruit market in Rashidiyah town.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which wounded at least 20 people.

Baghdad is on high alert for attacks after a blast Iraq since US-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein 13 years ago.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group (ISIL, also known as ISIS), which holds territory in Iraq, claimed responsibility for that attack.

The bombing in Rashidiyah came as the Iraqi parliament was due on Tuesday to discuss security measures in the capital in the wake of the attack in Karada.

On Friday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi accepted the resignation of interior minister Mohammed al-Ghabban and sacked the city’s head of security operations and other senior officials.