Twin blasts in Baghdad killed at least 32 people and wounded 71 others late on Thursday.

Twin blasts in Baghdad killed at least 32 people and wounded 71 others late on Thursday.

Officials said one bomb exploded at around 7:00 pm (1600 GMT) on Thursday followed by a second after security forces and crowds gathered at the scene.
A defense ministry official put the toll from Thursday night's twin roadside bomb attacks in Baghdad's Urr neighborhood at 32 dead and 71 wounded while an interior ministry official said 36 were killed and 78 wounded.
Both spoke on condition of anonymity.

Officials had given initial tolls of at least 10 dead and 32 wounded.

The revised death toll marks the highest since August 15, when twin bombings in the southern city of Kut, blamed on Al-Qaeda, killed 40 people.

The attacks came as the US occupation soldiers were preparing to withdraw from Iraq. The decision was announced by US President Barack Obama on October 21.
The US had engaged in protracted and ultimately failed negotiations with Iraq about a post-2011 US military “training mission” there.

The issue of immunity from prosecution for US trainers was the main sticking point, with Washington insisting its troops be given immunity, while Baghdad said that was not necessary.

roughly 39,000 US soldiers would quit Iraq, after a nearly nine-year campaign that has left tens of thousands of Iraqi dead and thousands of American soldiers killed, and costs billions of dollars.