Car bomb kills six and wounds 30 near Iraq's Mosul

Iraqi security forces inspect the site of a bomb attack in Baghdad on January 15, 2018. Reuters

At least six people were killed, including two soldiers, and 30 wounded in a car bomb blast in the northern Iraqi town of Qayyara on Tuesday, police and medical sources said.

A vehicle packed with explosives was parked near a restaurant and a crowded market area in Qayyara, south of the city of Mosul, police said. Health officials and police had earlier put the death toll at four but said it could rise as some of the wounded were in a critical condition.

No group immediately claimed responsibility, but ISIS often carries out such attacks.

Iraq's top military commander in Mosul Major-General Najim Al Jabouri accused ISIS of carrying out the Qayyara attack.

"We are positive the car bomb attack was carried out by Daesh terrorists and we will bring them to justice," Mr Maj-Gen Al Jabouri said, using a derogatory name for ISIS.

Iraq declared victory over the extremist group in December, dislodging them from almost all territories it held after its self-proclaimed caliphate, which extended into Syria, collapsed earlier in 2017.

The group's fighters have since waged a campaign of kidnapping, killing and bomb attacks targeting civilians and security forces.

An interior ministry spokesman said the blast was a result of a “terrorist attack by a car bomb”.

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