Baghdad car bomb kills at least 18, reports say

A bomb ripped through a busy shopping district in central Baghdad early on Sunday, killing at least 18 people and setting stores ablaze, according to media reports.

The blast in the Karada district, where many people were shopping ahead of the holiday marking the end of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, also wounded at least 45 people, Iraqi hospital and police officials told reporters.

Interior Ministry spokesman Saad Maan said the attack was a car bomb near a restaurant, and that it burned shops in the area.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the Islamic State (IS) group carries out frequent bombings targeting civilians in Baghdad and elsewhere.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release official information.

Nearly an hour after the attack, ambulances could still be heard rushing to the site, ABC News reported. An eyewitness said the explosion set off fires at nearby clothing and cell phone shops.

IS overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but it has since lost significant ground to Iraqi forces, most recently in Fallujah, a city west of Baghdad that was recaptured a week ago.

Iraqi and US-led coalition air raids destroyed hundreds of vehicles and killed dozens of IS militants as they fled the Fallujah area, officials said on Thursday.

The US defence department estimated that coalition attacks destroyed 175 vehicles, while Iraq's Joint Operations Command said the country's forces destroyed hundreds more.

Despite government victories on the battlefield, however, IS remains capable of launching attacks far from the front lines and still controls Iraq's second-biggest city of Mosul.