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Islamic State,
the Sunni hardline group that controls parts of Iraq and Syria,
claimed both attacks in statements on its Amaq news agency.
A car packed with explosives blew up near a popular ice cream
shop in the commercial Karrada district, killing at least 13
people and wounding 40 just after midnight (2100 GMT/5 p.m. ET
on Monday).
A few hours later, a second bombing killed ten people and
wounded 44 more near a government office in Karkh district.
During Ramadan many Muslims stay up until the early hours, going
out to spend time with their families, shop and eat before dawn
breaks and the next day's fast begins.
Karrada was hit by a massive truck bomb in July 2016 that killed
at least 324 people, the deadliest attack in Iraq since the
U.S.-led invasion of the country in 2003.
Islamic State has been retreating in Iraq since the end of 2015
in the face of U.S.-backed government forces and Iranian-backed
Shi'ite paramilitary groups.
It is now besieged in an enclave in the northern city of Mosul,
which it has used as its de facto capital in Iraq. Islamic State
declared from Mosul a "caliphate" over parts of Syria and Iraq
in 2014.
(Reporting by Maher Chmaytelli; Editing by Andrew Heavens and
Raissa Kasolowsky)
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