Baghdad 8 Jan (ANA) - A car bomb in Iraq has struck a market in eastern Baghdad, killing at least 11 people and injuring dozens more. Interior ministry spokesman Saad Maan was quoted as saying a security guard fired on a suspicious vehicle and the driver then blew it up. So-called Islamic State (IS) said it was behind the blast, in a statement on its Amaq news agency. It is the latest of several targeting Shia Muslim districts of Baghdad. A similar attack on 2 January killed 35. The latest attack struck the main vegetable market in the primarily Shia Muslim Sadr City district. There has been an increase in IS bomb attacks on civilians since the group came under increasing pressure from government forces in the areas it controls in the north and west of Iraq. Iraqi special forces and their Shia militia allies have been trying to drive IS from its stronghold in the northern city of Mosul. They entered eastern districts in November but IS have since slowed their advance towards the centre. The group also targets areas populated by the Shia as it sees them as apostates. (ANA)

FA/ANA/8 January 2017-----