Deadly bombings in Baghdad as decade-long night curfew set to end

At least 34 people have been killed in three bombings around Baghdad on Saturday, hours before the government was due to lift a decade-long, night-time curfew on the capital.

Iraqis clean up the site of a suicide bombing that targeted a street filled with hardware stores in Baghdad.

Attacks in Baghdad including a suicide bombing inside a restaurant have killed more than 30 people, hours before a years-old nightly curfew is due to be lifted.

The suicide bomber struck in the Baghdad Jadida area in the capital's east, killing at least 22 people and wounding at least 50.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Saturday's blast, one of the deadliest to hit the capital in months.

But suicide bombings in Iraq are almost exclusively carried out by Sunni extremists, including the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group.

Another attack - said to have been either a suicide or roadside bombing - hit a commercial area in central Baghdad.

There was a third attack at another market southwest of Baghdad.

Saturday's attacks illustrate the persistent danger of violence in Baghdad even as the nightly curfew was set to end at midnight in the city.

Lifting the curfew is a major change to a longstanding policy aimed at curbing violence in the capital by limiting movement at night, which has failed to stop frequent bombings.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered the move this week, a decision his office said was taken so there would "be normal life as much as possible, despite the existence of a state of war".