At least 37 killed in Iraq amid series of bomb attacks at markets in Baghdad

Around 86 people have been wounded in the attacks

Iraqi policeman helps usher pedestrians away from the bombing scene in New Baghdad (Reuters)

A series of bombings in the Iraqi capital Baghdad killed at least 37 people today hours before the city’s longtime curfew was expected to come to an end.

The deadliest attack occurred in the New Baghdad district and police say a suicide bomber targeted a restaurant on a street filled with hardware stores. The man killed 22 people and wounded at least 45.

“The restaurant was full of young people, children and women when the suicide bomber blew himself up,” witness Mohamed Saeed told Associated Press. “Many got killed.”

The second attack involving two bombs took place shortly afterward in the Shorja market in the centre of the city.

Police said two devices were detonated 25 meters apart from one another, killing at least 11 people and wounding 26.

A young man clears away stock near a pool of blood (Reuters)

At least another four people were killed in a third incident at the Abu Cheer market, on a Shia block of southwestern Baghdad, and 15 were wounded when a bomb detonated outside an outdoor food market.

There has been no claim of responsibility for any of the attacks so far by any groups, however the so-called Islamic State (Isis) are suspected of having carried them out.

The incident comes ahead of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s decision to lift Iraq’s night-time curfew beginning at midnight.

Recent bombings by Isis, who claim to follow the Sunni ways of Islam, have frequently targeted Shia-majority areas in the capital. However, Iraqi officials have repeatedly assured that the capital is secure.

Additional reporting by Associated Press