Baghdad car bomb claimed by ISIS kills 47

A car packed with explosivesblew up on Thursday in southern Baghdad, killing at least 47people and wounding more than 60 others, security and medical sources said, inthe deadliest such attack in Iraq this year.

ISIS, which is on the defensive after losingcontrol of eastern Mosul to a U.S.-backed Iraqi militaryoffensive, claimed responsibility for the bombing in an onlinestatement.

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As it cedes territory captured in a 2014 offensive acrossnorthern and western Iraq, the ultra-hardline group has steppedup insurgent strikes on government areas, particularly in thecapital Baghdad.

Security sources said the vehicle which blew up on Thursdaywas parked in a crowded street full of garages and used cardealers, in Hayy al-Shurta in the southwest of the city.

The death toll could climb further as many of the woundedare in critical condition, a doctor said.

The bombing is the second to hit car markets this week,suggesting the group has found it easier to leave vehicles ladenwith explosives in places where hundreds of other vehicles areparked.

A suicide bomber detonated a pick-up truck on Wednesday in the Sadr City suburb in the east of the capital, killing atleast 15 people. That explosion took place in a street full ofused car dealers.

U.S.-backed Iraqi forces have dislodged Islamic State frommost of the cities it captured in 2014 and 2015. The militantsalso control parts of Syria.

Iraqi government forces last month captured eastern Mosuland are now preparing an offensive on the western side thatremains under the militants' control. The city is divided in twohalves by the Tigris river.

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