An Australian schoolgirl is among the 17 people killed in a terror attack at an icecream shop in Baghdad on Monday (local time).
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the car bomb suicide attack, which targeted Muslims as they finished their Ramadan fast for the day. At least 32 people were injured in the blast.
Twelve-year-old Zynab Al-Harbiya was a Melbourne schoolgirl visiting her granddad in Iraq. At the end of the day's fast she was amongst the many families at the icecream shop.
The bomber was parked in the car outside the shop-front.
"Zynab had gone to Iraq for a short trip with her parents to visit her ailing grandfather," her family said in a statement.
"That night she had begged her mum to take her to a local icecream parlour at the end of a long hot day fasting. She will now never make it back home.
"Her friends and family are left devastated."
The blast tore through the crowded shopping area, leaving a trail of destruction.
Islamic State claimed it was targeting Shi'ite Muslims - who make up the majority of Iraq's population. The militant extremist sect considers Shi'ites to be heretics.
In recent months, Islamic State has stepped up its attacks in different parts of Iraq in a bid to distract attention from an ongoing US-backed campaign to dislodge it from Mosul.
Over the past weeks, government forces have retaken several neighbourhoods in western Mosul, squeezing the Islamic State militants into small but densely populated parts of the city.
Reuters / Newshub.
