Double suicide attacks in Iraq kill dozens

Two suicide attackers targeted Iraqi police checkpoints in commercial areas in central Baghdad during rush hour Thursday, killing at least 24 people, officials said.

Al-Araby al-Jadeed's reporter in Baghdad who spoke to an official said that around 121 others had been injured, including many security forces.

Both attacks were carried out by bombers on foot, wearing explosives-laden vests, two police officers said.

One bomber struck in Baghdad's Bab al-Sharji area, killing a number of civilians and a police officer there.

The second bomber hit in al-Wathba Square, killing more people, including two policemen.

Iraq is going through its worst crisis since the 2011 withdrawal of US troops.

The Islamic State group controls large swaths of the country's north and west after capturing Iraq's second-largest city of Mosul and the majority of the western Anbar province last year.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks, which bore the hallmarks of the Islamic State group, a splinter of Iraq's al-Qaida branch.

Following its blitz last year, the Islamic State now holds about a third of Iraq and neighbouring Syria in its self-declared "caliphate."

Since the emergence of IS extremists, Baghdad has seen near-daily attacks, with roadside bombs, suicide blasts and assassinations targeting Iraqi forces and government officials, with significant casualties among the civilian population.

The violence has killed hundreds and displaced tens of thousands of Iraqis.