9 killed in Iraq suicide car bomb attack

By Hussein al-Amir

DIYALA, Iraq (AA) – At least nine victims were killed and 20 others injured Sunday in a suicide car bomb attack, police told Anadolu Agency.

The vehicle was detonated near a police checkpoint in the Al-Halis area northeast of Baqubah, Diyala’s provincial capital, according to Captain Habib al-Simari, a Diyala province police officer.

He said the local government declared a curfew in Baqubah after the attack.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack that came only one day after the Daesh terrorist group staged an ambush in northeastern Iraq that killed at least eight victims.

The attacks took place despite last week’s large-scale security operation by police in Diyala to secure the provincial borders against Daesh militants entering from Kirkuk and Saladin provinces.

In October, the Iraqi army – backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes and local allies on the ground – began a wide-ranging operation to retake Mosul, Daesh’s last bastion in northern Iraq, which the militant group overran in 2014.