Toll from Baghdad blasts rises to 16 dead, 35 wounded

Civilians gather at the site of blasts in Baghdad’s Sadr City, Iraq, Thursday, June 7, 2018. A pair of explosions ripped through a mosque in a mostly Shiite district of Iraq’s capital Wednesday, security officials said. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)

BAGHDAD — Iraqi security officials say the toll from explosions that tore through a mosque in Baghdad has climbed to 16 dead and 35 wounded.

The officials provided the updated toll Thursday on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters.

A government statement said Wednesday’s explosions occurred at a weapons depot in Sadr City. It says it is investigating.

The neighborhood is named after the family of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose bloc won the most seats in last month’s elections. The vast, working-class district is a stronghold of his supporters, who battled U.S. troops in the years after the 2003 invasion.

No one bloc secured a majority in the May 12 elections, and the process of forming a new government could drag on for months.   /muf