Car bomb blast kills four in Iraq's Sadr City

Baghdad - It was the second big deadly bombing to hit Baghdad this year.

Four people were killed and 20 wounded in a car bomb attack on Thursday in the Sadr City neighbourhood of Baghdad, Iraqi police and medical workers said.

The car was parked at a busy second-hand equipment market in the mainly Shia Muslim district, police said.

An Iraqi military statement said the blast had killed one civilian, wounded 12 others and set several vehicles on fire. A second statement by the military said only one person, the driver, had died. Medics in Sadr City put the death toll at four.

Black smoke rose from the market place after the blast and ambulances rushed to save the wounded, Reuters witnesses said. Police cordoned off the site of the blast shortly afterwards.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. It was the second big deadly bombing to hit Baghdad this year after a suicide attack claimed by Daesh militants killed at least 32 people in a crowded market in January.

Large bomb attacks, once an almost daily occurrence in the Iraqi capital, have halted in recent years since Daesh fighters were defeated in 2017, part of an overall improvement in security that has brought normal life back to Baghdad.