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BAGHDAD, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- At least six people were killed and ten others wounded in a suicide car bomb explosion in eastern the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on Sunday, a police source said.
The attack occurred in the morning when a soldier at a checkpoint opened fire on a suspected suicide car bomb and detonated it at a busy intersection near Jamila wholesale vegetable market in Sadr City neighborhood, according to a statement issued by Brigadier Saad Maan, spokesman of Baghdad Operations Command, which is responsible on security of the Iraqi capital.
The massive blast left many nearby shops and stalls destroyed and set fire to several nearby vehicles, the spokesman said.
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Islamic State (IS) militant group, in most cases, is responsible for such suicide bombing targeting Iraqi security forces as well as crowded areas, including markets, cafes and mosques across the country.
The attack came as the Iraqi security forces backed by anti-IS international coalition are carrying out a major offensive to drive out the IS militants from its last major stronghold in and around Mosul.
Many blame the current chronic instability, cycle of violence, and the emergence of extremist groups, such as the IS, on the U.S., which invaded and occupied Iraq in March 2003.
