At least 12 dead in double suicide attack on security forces in Baghdad
Isis was behind the larger blast which hit a security checkpoint in the northern al-Husseiniya district
![Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has come under increasing in recent months following political instability and the cost of the fight against Isis](https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2016/04/23/20/iraqi-pm.jpg)
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Louise Thomas
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At least 12 people have been killed in two separate car bomb attacks targeting security services in Baghdad.
Police sources say at least 39 others have been injured and the death toll could rise.
Isis was behind the larger blast which hit a security checkpoint in the northern al-Husseiniya district, killing nine, according to the Amaq news agency which supports the group.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the second bombing, which targeted an army convoy in Arab al-Jabour, an area of date palm groves on Baghdad's southern outskirts.
On Friday, a similar attack near a Shi’te mosque left nine people dead.
![Broken trophies lie on the ground as people inspect the aftermath of a suicide bombing at a small football stadium in Iskandariya](https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2016/03/26/15/baghdad-football-bombing.jpg)
Last month a suicide bomber blew himself up at a football stadium just in Iskandariya killing 30 people, including the city’s mayor Ahmed Shaker, and injuring 95 others.
The Iraqi government has come under increasing pressure as it moves to push the Isis insurgency out of the north and west of the country.
Although it has retaken several major cities from the terror group in recent months - and is poised to recapture Mosul - bomb attacks against security forces and the Shi’te community are still commonplace.
Al Jazeera reports that an upsurge in the number of Isis suicide attacks on the country in recent months is part of a ploy by the group to restart the sectarian war between Shi’tes and Sunnis which raged in the country following the toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime by US and UK troops in 2003.
The government has also been weakened by allegations of corruption and infighting as Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s attempts reform.
The government’s finances are also in a perilous state due to the collapse in the global oil price and the cost of fighting Isis.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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