Bombings near Baghdad mall kill at least 13 people

Iraqi security forces clean up the blast site in Baghdad, Iraq. Pic/AP

Baghdad: Two overnight bomb blasts outside a shopping mall in central Baghdad killed at least 13 people and wounded more than 30, security and medical officials said.

The blasts were the latest in a series of deadly attacks at Baghdad shopping centres this year, including one that killed more than 300 people in July.

In the latest attack, one explosion came from a parked car and the other was caused by an explosives-laden vehicle driven by a suicide bomber outside Nakheel Mall on Palestine Street in the city centre, a police colonel said.

The blasts, which hit just before midnight on Friday, shattered windows at the multi-storey mall and damaged a fence surrounding it. Interior ministry spokesman Saad Maan said there were no casualties inside. Private security guards at the mall seized cameras of photographers to prevent pictures being taken.