Police sources and local media outlets confirmed the attack. However, there has been no word on casualties.

On Monday, Iraq’s new President Fouad Massoum named al-Abadi as Iraq’s new premier-designate to form a new government. Al-Abadi was picked by Iraq’s bloc of Shia parties, the National Alliance.

Over the past several months, many districts in Baghdad, particularly its Shia areas, have been rocked by car bombings and other terrorist attacks targeting both the security forces and civilians.

On August 7, at least 17 people, including six Iraqi policemen, were killed in a powerful car bomb attack on a police checkpoint in the town of Kadhimiya, located in a northern neighborhood of Baghdad. Thirty-one people also suffered injuries in the incident.

Kadhimiya is a predominantly Shia town in the crisis-hit country and is home to the holy shrines of two Shia Imams.

Iraq has also been experiencing militancy, a spillover of the crisis in neighboring Syria.

HH/HH