At least 11 premature babies killed in Baghdad maternity hospital fire

At least 11 premature babies were killed on Wednesday in a fire that tore through one of Baghdad's largest maternity hospitals, medical and security sources confirmed to AFP. 

Other Iraqi officials, however, have put the death toll much higher and said that 24 premature babies have been killed. The unnamed official told Rudaw, a news service based in Iraqi Kurdistan, that an oxygen capsule detonated at the ward. 

"All the babies got burned and died,” the official at the Iraqi health ministry said. 

At least seven other children and 29 women were rescued and transferred to another hospital, he added. 

Health ministry spokesman Ahmed al-Rudeini told AFP the blaze at the Yarmouk hospital in west Baghdad was started by an electrical fault.

An official at Iraq's interior ministry confirmed the initial death toll from the fire, adding that three other babies were being treated for smoke inhalation. 

Many of Baghdad's public hospitals are considered of poor quality, pushing many Iraqis to seek private healthcare. Electrical fires are also common throughout Iraq due to poor maintenance and shoddy wiring.