IS suicide bomber massacres scores at Baghdad ice-cream shop

The overnight attack in the Karrada district in central Baghdad also wounded at least 30 people, officials said.

"The suicide bomber was able to detonate his explsovies-laden car near al-Fakma, in the Karrada district central Baghdad after midnight, targeting a crowd of civilians," an official told The New Arab.

The attack came just days into the holy month of Ramadan when Muslims fast during daylight hours. After sundown, families break their fast and Baghdad’s restaurants and cafes quickly fill up.

The Islamic State group-linked Amaq propaganda agency said the suicide bomber targeted a "gathering of Shias."

Videos posted to social media showed chaotic scenes on the streets surrounding the blast.

A number of wounded lay on the ground, others propped themselves up on the colourful park benches outside the ice cream shop.

One photo showed cups of ice cream scattered on the blood-stained ground following the attack.

Brett McGurk, the envoy to the US-led anti-IS coalition, condemned the attack and expressed solidarity with Iraq.

"ISIS terrorists tonight in Baghdad target children & families enjoying time together at an ice cream shop. We stand w/Iraq against this evil," McGurk said on Twitter, using an alternate acronym for IS.

IS overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but Iraqi forces backed by US-led air strikes have since regained much of the territory they lost and are now fighting to retake the last jihadist-held areas in second city Mosul.

But defeats on the battlefield have not prevented IS from carrying out deadly attacks targeting civilians, including a bombing in the Karrada area last year that killed more than 300 people.