The Islamic State is claiming responsibility for four separate suicide attacks in Iraq on Monday, killing at least 47 people on one of the bloodiest days in and around Baghdad in months.
Gunmen sprayed bullets at shoppers before blowing themselves up inside a Baghdad shopping mall, in a mainly Shi'ite neighborhood. A car bomb exploded on a Baghdad street not far from the mall.
One distraught witness pointed to the body of a dead child and pleaded to know what sins the youngster committed to deserve this.
A police colonel described the mall as a building of four or five floors in a busy commercial area of Baghdad al-Jadida, a populous Shi'ite-majority area on the eastern edge of the Iraqi capital.
A large plume of black smoke could be seen billowing into the sky above the area where the mall is located.
Iraqi police deny reports that the attackers are holding hostages in the mall.
Also Monday, two other bombs blew up outside a cafe in the town of Muqdadiya, northeast of Baghdad.
The death toll from all the terrorist attacks Monday is at least 47. The Islamic State claims 90 were killed, but the militants are notorious for exaggerating casualty numbers.
The Islamic State controls large areas of northern and western Iraq and frequently targets Shi'ite districts.
