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Suicide bombings in Baghdad kill over 30 on eve of curfew expiration

The attacks come on the eve of a curfew expiration in Baghdad.

By Fred Lambert
A casualty is carried away after a series of explosions in central Baghdad that killed 34 people on April 4, 2010. A similar number of deaths were reported February 7, 2015, when three suicide bombings ripped through various areas of the Iraqi capital, including two different markets and a restaurant in a Shia neighborhood. File photo by Ali Jasim/UPI
A casualty is carried away after a series of explosions in central Baghdad that killed 34 people on April 4, 2010. A similar number of deaths were reported February 7, 2015, when three suicide bombings ripped through various areas of the Iraqi capital, including two different markets and a restaurant in a Shia neighborhood. File photo by Ali Jasim/UPI | License Photo

BAGHDAD, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- Over 30 people were killed Saturday when suicide bomb attacks ripped through two markets and a restaurant in Baghdad.

No groups have claimed responsibility for the attacks, which came the same day a curfew that has lasted for years in the Iraqi capital was set to expire.

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The first explosion occurred at a restaurant in Jididah, a predominantly Shia neighborhood. The BBC reports 22 killed and at least 50 wounded in the attack, while Al Jazeera reports 23 deaths and at least 49 injuries.

Another suicide bombing killed over a dozen people in the Al-Shurjah market, according to Al Jazeera. The BBC reports there were two such attacks in markets in Baghdad's center and southwest, killing a similar number of people.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had ordered the expiration at midnight of a curfew that, for the past seven years, has restricted movement in the capital from 12 a.m. to 5 a.m. Baghdad has endured some form of curfew since the U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003, and al-Abadi reportedly lifted the restriction to normalize life and illustrate that the Islamic State was no longer a threat to the city.

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Brigadier General Saad Maan, spokesman for Iraq's interior ministry, told the BBC he did not think the bombings were meant to coincide with the curfew expiration.

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