Two bombs claimed by Islamic State have killed at least 28 people and injured at least 54 in central Baghdad, according to police and medical officials. The attack happened as fighting intensified in the northern city of Mosul, where government forces are attempting to expel the jihadis from their last major stronghold in Iraq.



The blasts, reportedly the work of suicide bombers, tore through a busy market in district of al-Sinak on Saturday, police said.

A pro-Isis news agency said the attackers had targeted Shia Muslims. Isis has continued to launch attacks in the heavily fortified capital, even after losing most of the northern and western territory it seized in 2014.

The recapture of Mosul would probably spell the end for Isis’s self-styled caliphate, but the militants would still be capable of fighting a guerrilla-style insurgency in Iraq and plotting or inspiring attacks on the west. The second phase of a US-backed offensive on the city, launched on Thursday following weeks of deadlock, has encountered fierce resistance.

Conventional US forces deploying more extensively in this phase are now visible very close to the front lines.

Mourners carry the coffins of bomb victims Arif Muhanad, 36, and his son Muhanad, eight. Photograph: Karim Kadim/AP

The third day of the renewed push saw heavy clashes on the south-eastern and northern fronts. An elite interior ministry unit continued to push through the Intisar district, where a US-trained army unit had struggled to advance after entering the south-east district last month.

A Reuters cameraman said heavy gunfire was audible and attack helicopters fired overhead as hundreds of civilians fled from their homes. In the north, a separate army unit pressed towards the border of Mosul after recapturing several outlying villages in the past two days.

“There is a battle in Argoob area, which is considered the gateway to Hadba,” Lt Col Abbas al-Azawi said by phone, referring to a strategic northern neighbourhood.

Since the offensive began on 17 October, elite forces have retaken a quarter of Mosul in the biggest ground operation there since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. The Iraqi prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, has said the group would be driven out of the country by April.

Although the militants are vastly outnumbered, they have embedded themselves among Mosul’s residents, hindering Iraqi forces who are trying to avoid civilian casualties. Despite food and water shortages, most civilians have stayed in their homes.

One resident reached by phone late on Friday said a rocket had landed on a house in the eastern Mithaq district, killing six members of one family. “We have not seen Daesh since the Iraqi forces restarted their offensive,” he said. “We hear the sounds of large car bombs. Today I heard no fewer than 10 huge explosions.”









