Baghdad, Iraq

At least 31 people have been killed in a series of bomb attacks in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, including one outside a popular ice cream shop in the city centre. Militants from the Islamic State group said they carried out the attacks, which left dozens of other people injured, just days into the holy month…

Two explosions have killed at least 28 in a busy market in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.  The so-called Islamic state say their combatants targeted shoppers in the Shia district with a car bomb followed by a suicide bomber.

I don’t know what it was like before, but if this is the new normal in Baghdad it must take some getting used to.

Father Christmas was dancing outside the clothes shop. A gaggle of small children were watching, entranced. When the electricity was switched off, he drooped and they drifted away. All over Ankawa, the Christian enclave in Erbil, you can see signs of Christmas: outside one house we saw an orange tree with tinsel and baubles hanging amongst the fruits.

Lindsey Hilsum blogs on how today’s Baghdad bomb attack is the latest sign that insurgents are seeking to exploit the political void caused by Iraq’s inconclusive election.

Sir John Sawers, who gave evidence at today’s Iraq inquiry session, was more notable for the glamour of his current position than for the value of his evidence.

The inquiry kicks off this morning with Baghdad 2004-5. The first hearing starts at 11.30am, with diplomat Edward Chaplin, who we heard from in the first week.

I remember the horror when we entered the plundered Baghdad Museum two days after the Americans took the Iraqi capital in April 2003. We picked our way through broken shards of pottery and destroyed statues – the looters had smashed as well as grabbed. A lone archaeologist was wandering around in shock. “We would have…