Car bomb attacks kill 57 across Iraq

Three separate car bomb attacks across Iraq have left at least 57 people dead and scores injured.

The worst incident on Monday occurred in the town of Khalis in the eastern Diyala Province, where 35 people were killed and 30 wounded in the bombing claimed by Daesh Takfiri militants.

“The driver begged police to be allowed to park his vehicle in order to buy medication from a nearby pharmacy and five minutes later it (the bomb) went off and caused huge destruction,” police captain Mohammed al-Tamimi said.

Khalis is situated 80 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of the capital, Baghdad.

In the capital, Baghdad, at least 12 people were killed and 20 wounded when the car bomb exploded on a commercial street in the northeastern neighborhood of Husseiniya.

The third car bomb on Monday rocked a busy marketplace called Souk al-Halaqin in the southern Iraqi town of Zubayr.

The blast killed 10 people and wounded two-dozen more.

Zubayr is located 10 kilometers (six miles) from the main southern hub of Basra.

Hospital officials corroborated the death tolls. They spoke anonymously as they were not authorized to brief the media.

Daesh Takfiri militants regularly claim responsibility for such blind bomb attacks against ethnic groups as well as government and security officials which have left multitudes of civilian causalities.

The Iraqi government has been struggling against militancy with army soldiers and volunteer fighters fighting to win back militant-held regions across the country.

The northern and western parts of Iraq have been plagued by Daesh militants since their campaign of terror in the country kicked off in June 2014.