Car bombing kills at least 50 in Iraqi capital

BAGHDAD / ANKARA

Turkey has strongly condemned the bomb attacks that hit Iraqi capital Baghdad on Monday that killed at least 50 and injured dozens.

"We are sure that these kind of heinous attacks will not discourage the Iraqi government or the Iraqi people," a written statement from the Turkish Foreign Ministry said, expressing condolences for the families of the victims.

"The cooperation between both countries to fight terrorism will continue to grow stronger," it added.

Earlier reports suggested that at least 31 people were killed in a car-bomb attack that shook Baghdad's Shia-majority Sadr City district, local Police Officer Ahmed Khalaf told Anadolu Agency.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for Monday’s bombing, but Iraqi officials typically blame such attacks on the Daesh terrorist group, which overran vast swathes of territory in northern and western Iraq in 2014.

Meanwhile, Baghdad Operations Command’s Spokesman Brigadier General Saad Maan had announced that other three separate bomb attacks left many dead and injured in northern Baghdad.

Last Saturday, at least 27 people were killed -- and dozens more injured -- in a twin bombing claimed by Daesh in the Iraqi capital.

Officials in Baghdad say such seemingly random attacks come as retaliation by the terrorist group for an ongoing Iraqi army campaign aimed at recapturing the Daesh-held city of Mosul.