IS Baghdad bomb blast kills at least 119

IS Baghdad bomb blast kills at least 119

A suicide car bombing claimed by the Islamic State group ripped through a busy Baghdadshopping district on Sunday, killing at least 119 people in the deadliest attack this year in Iraq's capital.

The blast hit the Karrada district early in the day as the area was packed with shoppers ahead of this week's holiday marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. It came a week after Iraqi security forces recaptured Fallujah from IS, leaving Mosul as the only Iraqi city under the jihadist group's control.

The bombing also wounded more than 140 people, security officials said. Prime MinisterHaider al-Abadi visited the site of the attack and vowed "punishment" for its perpetrators, his office said. The blast set buildings ablaze, and firemen were still working to extinguish them some 12 hours later.

Men carried the bodies of two victims out of one burned building and a crowd of people looked on from the rubble-filled street as firefighters worked at the site.

Hussein Ali, a 24-year-old former soldier, said six workers at his family's shop were killed in the attack, their bodies burned so badly that they could not be identified.Read more.

At least 14 Nepalese security guards dead in suicide bomb attack in Kabul

At least 14 Nepalese security guards dead in suicide bomb attack in Kabul

At least 14 Nepalese security guards were killed today when a Taliban suicide bombertargeted their minibus in the Afghan capital, a government official said.

Interior Minister spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said that eight others were wounded in the attack, and that police were working to identify the nationalities of the victims.

"The suicide bomber targeted a minibus of security guards of a foreign company, right now we are working to identify the nationalities of the victims," said Sediqqi.

But a police official told The Associated Press that the 14 dead were Nepalese citizens working as security guards for the private company that was attacked.

The official, who did not want to give his name as he was not authorised to speak to the media, said the wounded included four Afghan civilians.

Dozens of police and many ambulances rushed to the scene to take the victims to hospitals.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack.

It is the first attack in Kabul since the start of holy fasting month of Ramadan on June 6. The last attack in the Afghan capital on April 19 left 64 dead and more than 340 wounded.Read more.