Twin bomb blasts tear through Baghdad's Sadr city

"At least seven people were killed and 14 others were wounded by blasts from two explosive devices planted in the Qayyarah market in Sadr city east of Baghdad," an interior ministry source told The New Arab.

Iraqi forces were on high alert after sealing off the area, the source said, adding that the wounded were transferred to nearby hospitals. 

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombings. However Islamic State [IS] group militants have been known to carry out suicide bombings targeting members of the country's Shia majority, whom it considers heretics.

Earlier this week a suicide bombing claimed by IS killed six people in western Baghdad.

Iraqi forces are preparing for a push on Mosul, the last IS-held city in the country, after regaining much of the Iraqi territory the extremist group seized in June 2014.

Since late last year, IS has suffered a string of territorial losses, most recently last month in Fallujah, where it was driven out by Iraqi forces after occupying the city for more than two years.

But in response to the losses IS has begun to carry out near-daily bombings in and around Baghdad, shifting tactics from capturing territory towards individual attacks to spread fear and chaos.