Scores killed and wounded in three Baghdad explosions

Two bombs timed to coincide exploded in Shia-dominated areas of the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Wednesday evening, after a morning blast marked the bloodiest single attack to hit the city this year.

At least 15 people were killed when a bomb hit the Kazemia district of northern Baghdad, while at least five people were killed when the third blast hit the al-Adl district - also in northern Baghdad - minutes later.

Earlier in the day, at least 65 people were killed when a huge bomb blast ripped through a market in Baghdad, according to security and medical officials.

The first blast hit the busy Areeba market in Sadr City, a northern district of Baghdad where the majority of the population are Shia Muslims.

Security sources told Reuters that the blast went off near a beauty salon and that the majority of the dead and wounded were women. 

Some 60 others were wounded. Initial reports said that 50 people had been killed and that the death toll could rise further over the coming hours.  

Amateur footage purportedly from the scene - which could not be verified - showed bodies of those killed strewn across the pavement. 

Locals told Middle East Eye the car that was detonated was initially prevented from entering the market by police, but found another way into the area.

Images from the scene showed clouds of black smoke billowing from the site of the blast amid the charred remains of market stalls.

Translation: Casualty count from Sadr City blast rises to more than 100, including those killed and injured

On Monday, a car bomb in the eastern city of Baquba killed at least 10 people. A few hours later, IS claimed responsibility.

The group often carries out bombings in Baghdad and elsewhere, especially targeting Shia Muslims, whom it considers heretics.

Iraqi forces have been struggling to regain ground from IS, which overran swathes of territory north and west of Baghdad in 2014.

The US has recently intensified its bombing campaign around Mosul in support of Iraqi forces who are mobilising for a long-awaited assault on the city, which was seized by IS in the summer of 2014.

Sadr City, an impoverished district originally set up to house the capital's urban poor and now housing about a million people, has long been a target for attacks, particularly car bombings.

The area is a stronghold of support for Ayatollah Muqtada al-Sadr, an influential Shia cleric who concentrates his charity work in the district.

Sadr was recently at the forefront of a wave of anti-government protests and sit-ins over corruption and the formation of a new government. His supporters stormed the Green Zone and the parliament building on 1 May, but the cleric ordered his supporters to leave.