Eight people killed, 28 injured in Baghdad attacks

Eight people were killed and at least 28 others were injured in attacks across the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on Wednesday, police said.

"Five people were killed and 13 others were injured in mortar strikes at residential areas in al-Shu’ala district in northwestern Baghdad," police told The Anadolu Agency.

An improvised explosive device blast claimed two lives and wounded six others in al-Mada’in district’s al-Sutaih village in southern Baghdad.

Another improvised explosive device went off in al-Sha’b district in northern Baghdad, leaving one person dead and nine others wounded, police said.

Also, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) allegedly burnt 23 people to death in Ninawa, Saladin and Anbar provinces, according to the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights. The death toll could not be independently verified.

Iraq has been gripped by a security vacuum since June 2014, when ISIL stormed the northern province of Mosul and declared what it called a "caliphate" in Iraq and Syria.