"Biased ignorance, instrumental use of violence and terrorism and double-standard approaches towards terrorism have prolonged the disgraceful life of this destructive global plague which has swept all geographical, political, moral and religious borders," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Sunday.

He underlined that international resolve, consensus and unity is needed to fight against this phenomenon, and expressed the hope that all nations and governments would witness a world free from terrorism and violence in the New Year.

A pair of suicide bombings minutes apart hit a central Baghdad market on Saturday, killing 28 people and wounding at least 54, prompting security forces to ban traffic from key streets at the center of the Iraqi capital, police and hospital officials said.

The ISIL terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attacks in al-Sanak in a statement posted by its Aamaq news agency, confirming that the blasts came from a pair of suicide bombers.

Also in Turkey, assailants believed to have been dressed in a Santa Claus costumes opened fire at a crowded nightclub in Istanbul during New Year's celebrations, killing at least 39 people and wounding close to 70 others in what the province's governor described as a terror attack.