Authorities in Iraq say a vehicle bomb targeting a street full of shoppers in a city north of Baghdad has killed 16 people and wounded 31 others. Security officials say the pickup truck laden with explosives blew up Thursday evening in a commercial street of Balad Ruz, 45 miles (70 kilometres) northeast of Baghdad, destroying several shops. Health officials confirmed the security officialÂ’s reported casualty toll.
In other attacks Thursday, an explosive stuck onto a public minibus exploded in BaghdadÂ’s Shaab district, killing 4 people and wounding six. Three soldiers were killed and five wounded in a bombing of their patrols in the northern city of Mosul, the officials said.