Alwaght- At least 15 people were killed and over 40 injured early on Tuesday after a car bomb has exploded at Karrada neighborhood in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
ISIS terrorist group claimed responsibility for the blast that took place outside a popular ice cream shop in the mainly Shiite-populated district.
Families were gathering after breaking their daily fast as part of Islam's holy month of Ramadan when the bomb went off.
Iraqi officials said the attack apparently involved explosives remotely detonated inside a parked car.
Videos posted on social media showed blood stains and body parts scattered on the ground and the wounded propping themselves up on benches in a nearby park.
ISIS usually intensifies its attack on civilians, mainly Shiites, in revenge for defeats Iraqi forces inflict up on the terror group.
The deadly attack came one day after reports emerged that Shiite-dominated Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) are pursuing ISIS terrorists in regions near borders with Syria and liberated a series of towns and villages in the area.
The PMF, backed by army's air force, launched a major offensive last Monday to liberate Ba'aj and its surrounding villages and areas from ISIS, with the objective of reaching the Syrian border and cutting the vital supply line of the terror group which is facing total defeat in Iraq’s Mosul city, their last urban foothold in the Arab country.
Meanwhile, Iraqi military sources have said that liberation of Mosul will not last for more than one week to prevent fighting in the city after June 10, which marks the day on which Mosul fell to hands of the ISIS terrorists in 2014, reports mentioned.
Karrada was rocked by a similar ISIS bomb attack last July, when 292 people were killed. That deadly explosion happened when Iraqi families were shopping for the Eid al-Fitr festival at the end of Ramadan.
