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 The blast occurred near a gathering of workers in Tayaran Square,
about a kilometer from a sit-in held by supporters of influential
Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to demand political reforms.
Islamic State, which claimed responsibility in an online statement,
also claimed a suicide bombing last Friday that killed 26 people at
an amateur soccer game in Iskandariya, south of Baghdad.
At least 60 people were killed earlier this month in an attack
further south, in Hilla, when an explosives-laden fuel tanker
slammed into an Iraqi security checkpoint.
An apparent escalation of bombings targeting areas outside Islamic
State's primary control in northern and western Iraq suggests that
Iraqi government forces may be stretched thin after recent gains
against the group.
Analysts in Europe have interpreted recent attacks there, such as
last week's bombings in Brussels or the killings in Paris last
November, as a sign that Islamic State was expanding its field of
action in response to setbacks in Iraq and Syria.
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But Baghdad analysts say the group has long staged indiscriminate
suicide bombings and see these attacks as a continuation of that
tactic.
(Reporting by Maher Chmaytelli; Editing by Tom Heneghan)
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