Accidentally, a gas truck burst in Baghdad on Saturday night, killing at least nine people and injuring thirteen others, according to security authorities.

The explosion, which was audible throughout much of the Iraqi city, occurred at a car park near a football field in an eastern Baghdad residential neighborhood.

Ahmad Salim, head of security forces in Baghdad, said in a statement, "Nine civilians were killed and 13 were injured" when the tanker detonated.

"The explosion is an accident and not a terrorist attack," he continued.

A medical source told AFP that twelve people had died.

Another medical source previously informed AFP that there were "eight fatalities and twenty injuries."

According to an AFP correspondent, the windows of surrounding buildings were shattered and nearby vehicles were damaged.

Mohammed Aziz, a nearby resident who lives just 100 meters (yards) from the bomb site, told AFP, "We were at home when we felt a strong explosion and smelled gas."

"We felt as though we were suffocating," he continued. Our windows and doors were blown out.

The recently elected president of Iraq, Abdul Latif Rashid, vowed an investigation to determine who was responsible for the catastrophe.

Accidents are widespread in both the transportation and construction industries in Iraq, where safety norms are regularly disregarded.

In April 2021, more than eighty people perished in a Baghdad hospital fire caused by improperly kept oxygen bottles.