Islamic State claims string of bombings in Baghdad's Shia neighborhoods

BAGHDAD, July 14 (UPI) -- The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for a wave of bombings across northern Baghdad's Shia neighborhoods on Sunday that killed at least 28 people.

In a social media post, IS militants said Monday they were behind the attacks, which included three car bombings, one each in the Shaab neighborhood of Adhamiyah district, the Banook neighborhood and the Kadhimiya district.

IS described the suicide attacks as a "pounce of the monotheists on the chests of the apostates," the BBC reports.

On Monday the Baghdad government announced a new offensive to recapture the Anbar province, Iraq's largest and a long-time battleground between extremists and pro-government forces.

The effort comprises a coalition of Iraqi military and police, Sunni tribal fighters and Iran-trained Shia militias. The two initial focuses of the offensive are the cities of Fallujah, where government forces have battled IS militants for two weeks, and Ramadi, the provincial capital.

In May, Iraqi security forces and allied Sunni tribesmen fled from an IS assault into Ramadi, prompting the Iraqi government to mobilize Shia militias known as Popular Mobilization Forces.

Along with coalition air power, the Shia fighters were instrumental in the recapture of Tikrit in April, but the militias had to eventually be pulled from the city after reports of looting, arson and illegal killings.

Dozens of IS fighters were reported killed in clashes in Anbar and other locations late last month, and a Baghdad court last week sentenced 24 men to death for taking part in the summary execution of hundreds of surrendered Iraqi soldiers when IS forces initially seized Tikrit in June 2014.

The U.S. State Department last month said the international coalition to defeat IS, known as Operation Inherent Resolve, had so far killed an estimated 10,000 IS fighters in Iraq and Syria. Days later it said efforts to defeat IS forces in Iraq may take between three and five years.

According to United Nations estimates, violence has killed 14,947 civilians in Iraq since the start of 2014 to the end of April 2015, while another 29,189 have been wounded.