KIRKUK, Iraq
At least 24 people were killed Friday afternoon in a series of bombing attacks in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad and in Kirkuk city.
Six-teen killed in the blast when a bomb-laden vehicle blew up in the Karrada town of Baghdad and fifty-one others were wounded in the attack, according to security sources.
In a separate incident, unidentified assailants detonated a bomb-laden motorcycle in the Imam Qasim area of the northern Kirkuk city, leaving eight people dead and tens of others injured.
A large number of vehicles and shops were severely damaged in the attack.
No groups have yet claimed responsibility for the bombings.
Kirkuk Police Chief Idris Rifat told Anadolu Agency that the death toll is high since the assault was mounted at a point close to a bazaar.
Hemin Ali, an eye-witness to the bomb attack, stated that the glasses of their house were shattered by the blast.
"The bombing occurred while we were preparing to leave home for Friday prayers. I saw scores of people lying wounded on the ground," he said.
Ali also explained that a fire broke out after the attack, which added to the overall material damage.
Just one day ago, a spate of bomb attacks rattled the Iraqi capital Baghdad, leaving at least 29 people dead and 71 others injured.
Iraq has long been suffering from escalating ethnic violence, which morphed into militant terror ever since a coalition of extremist armed groups linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, captured large swathes of the country's predominantly Sunni provinces in early June.
Violence instigated by ISIL militants has claimed more than 1,400 lives in August alone, and caused 1.2 million Iraqis, including Turkmen, Arabs, Christians and Ezidis, to flee their homes.
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