Blasts kill 12 as Kerry visits Baghdad

12 people are dead after two bomb blasts in Baghdad while US Secretary of State John Kerry visits the Iraqi capital for talks on combating jihadists.

Bomb attacks have killed at least 12 people in Baghdad as US Secretary of State John Kerry visited the Iraqi capital for talks on combating jihadists.

They said a suicide car bombing followed by a car bomb struck near a police checkpoint in a crowded area of eastern Baghdad on Wednesday, also wounding at least 31 people.

Militants led by the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group overran swathes of Iraq in June, and security forces, Shiite militias and Kurdish fighters have been battling to regain ground.

The US began an air campaign against IS in Iraq on August 8, mainly in support of Kurdish forces in the north, though American warplanes have also carried out limited strikes in Salaheddin and Anbar provinces.

Kerry's previously unannounced visit in Baghdad was the first stop on a regional tour to build support for a new US strategy, which he has said will only work with the backing of the "broadest possible coalition of partners around the globe."


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