ISIS Claims Responsibility For Baghdad Mall Attack That Killed 18

10 people killed after a car bomb exploded outside al-Jawaher mall in Baghdad, the city is in a hostage situation.

The city of Baghdad as seen on Google Maps.

Eighteen people were killed after a car bomb exploded outside the al-Jawaher mall in the capital city of Iraq, Baghdad which is now in a hostage situation.

The islamist militant group, ISIS, has claimed responsibility for the attack in an online statement.

Iraqi officials say gunmen have stormed a mall in a mainly Shiite neighbourhood in eastern Baghdad Jadida, killing 18 people and taking hostages.

State television said security forces were surrounding the site of “a terrorist attack” in Baghdad Jadida, citing an interior ministry spokesman.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but ISIS militants controlling large swathes of Iraq’s north and west regularly target Shiite districts and security forces in the capital and elsewhere.

The officials say another 25 people were wounded in the attack and that there are three policemen among those dead.

The officials estimated that 50-75 people were trapped in the mall.

(With agency inputs.)