Car bomb kills six in central Baghdad

A car bomb hit a central Baghdad neighbourhood on Saturday night killing at least six people and injuring many more, security sources said.

The bombing reportedly targeted a nightclub in the Saadoun Park area, according to a source within Iraq’s ministry of interior.

Iraqi forces sealed off the area and imposed heavy security procedures around the capital to safeguard against further attacks, the source told The New Arab.

The attack in Baghdad coincided with another bombing that hit a security checkpoint in Diyala province, north of the capital.

A suicide car bomber struck the checkpoint on the main highway connecting Baghdad to the city Kirkuk, close to the town of al-Khalis, killing and injuring at least seven people, according to security sources.

The attacks bare the hallmarks of the Islamic State group, which has increased its bombing campaign in the capital and elsewhere after suffering steady losses in Mosul, the group’s last stronghold in Iraq.

Last week a suicide bomber killed at least 11 people when he detonated his car bomb at the entrance of Baghdad’s main vegetable market.

Iraqi forces on Saturday retook Mosul's university from IS, the latest key advance in efforts to recapture the eastern side of the city.

The vast Mosul University campus, one of the biggest in Iraq, lies in the north of the city on the east bank of the Tigris River that splits Mosul in two.

"We have done the hardest part... we may recapture the entirety of the eastern side in the next 10 days or so," Maan Saadi, a major general in the Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) said.

The massive operation to retake Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, from IS was launched in October. Since then Iraqi forces have slowly clawed back about a third of the city.