Bombings in Baghdad kill at least 20

Militants unleashed a wave of bombings targeting commercial areas in and around Baghdad on Monday, killing at least 20 people, officials said as Iraqi troops poised to recapture the Islamic State-held city of Fallujah, west of Iraq's capital.

Shortly after the bombs hit, the extremist Islamic State, which has been behind recent deadly attacks in Baghdad and beyond, claimed responsibility for two of the explosions, both in the Iraqi capital. Such assaults are seen as an attempt by the militants to distract the security forces' attention away from the front lines.

The deadliest of Monday's attacks took place in the northern, Shiite-dominated Shaab neighbourhood of Baghdad where a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into a checkpoint next to a commercial area, killing eight civilians and three soldiers.