Many killed in Baghdad cafe explosion

 

Up to 23 people are reported to have been killed in a suicide bombing in a Baghdad cafe.
A Ministry of Interior source told Al Jazeera that as well as the dead, 35 people were wounded in the attack late on Thursday.
The suicide bomber walked into a popular cafe crowded with young people at the start of the weekend.
Al Jazeera's Jane Arraf, reporting from Iraq, said that the small space in which the suicide bomber detonated meant the injuries were "absolutely horrific."
She said that the Amariyah neighbourhood had been known as an al-Qaeda stronghold before locals turned against the group.
Like other majority Sunni neighbourhoods in Baghdad, Amariyah has been under extremely tight security since anti-government protests started in Sunni provinces and communities in December.