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Melbourne girl killed in Baghdad suicide bombings

An Australian schoolgirl has been killed in an Islamic State bombing in Baghdad while she was buying ice cream with her mother.

Melbourne schoolgirl Zynab Al Harbiya was killed when a suicide bomber attacked an ice cream shop in the centre of the Iraqi capital where late-night were breaking their Ramadan fast late on Monday night.

The 12-year-old Thomastown girl was in Iraq visiting her sick grandfather, the family said in a statement.

"Zynab had gone to Iraq for a short trip with her parents to visit her ailing grandfather," the statement said.

Melbourne schoolgirl Zynab Al Harbiya was killed in a suicide bombing in Baghdad. Source: Supplied
Melbourne schoolgirl Zynab Al Harbiya was killed in a suicide bombing in Baghdad. Source: Supplied

"That night she had begged her mum to take her to a local ice-cream parlour at the end of a long hot day fasting. She will now never make it back home.

"Her friends and family are left devastated," the statement said.

Zynab was in year seven at Sirius College in Broadmeadows after graduating from Thomastown Primary School.

The Melbourne girl and her family had been fasting throughout the day for Ramadan.

She wanted to go out for ice cream and was in the shop with her mother when the blast went off.

Suicide bombings claimed by the Islamic State group killed at least 27 people in two attacks in Baghdad, officials said on Tuesday, as Iraqi forces fight to retake the last jihadist-held areas in Mosul.

The bombs killed at least 27 people and wounded more than 80 others. Source: Twitter
The bombs killed at least 27 people and wounded more than 80 others. Source: Twitter

In the deadlier of the two attacks, a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-rigged vehicle at a popular ice cream shop at around midnight Monday, killing at least 16 people and wounding 75.

The bomber struck just days after the start of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, during which Iraqis often stay out late shopping or socialising after breaking their daily fast.

IS issued statements claiming the blast at the Al-Faqma ice cream shop and a later attack, saying both were suicide car bombings targeting members of Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority, whom the group considers heretics.

The suicide bomber targeted a 'gathering of Shiites'. Source: Twitter
The suicide bomber targeted a 'gathering of Shiites'. Source: Twitter

Haidar Hussein, a 22-year-old who was wounded in the blast, was sitting with friends at a small coffee shop near Al-Faqma.

A police captain tried to prevent a small white pick-up truck from approaching the area, but the driver kept going forward and then the truck exploded, Hussein said.

The blast spread rubble everywhere, sparked a fire and threw Hussein to the ground, injuring his arm and leg.

After checking himself for wounds, he began to look for his friends.

"Many people were on the ground, including women and children, and the screams of the women and children got louder," he said.

Among the dead was Hussein's 22-year-old friend Karar, who left behind two wives and three children.

- With AFP