At least 56 people were killed and several others injured in a number of car bombings across Iraq on Monday. Iraqi security officials said a bomb exploded near a crowded market in Khalis, a Shiite-dominated town located about 50 miles northwest of the capital Baghdad in Diyala province, killing at least 35 people and injuring 30 others.
"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, according to Press TV.
A second attack took place in another Shiite majority town of Al Zubair, near Basra.
Jabbar al-Saadi of the Basra provincial council's security committee said that the suicide bombing occurred around 5:30 p.m. local time (1430 GMT) on Monday evening in a popular marketplace known as Souk al-Halaqin in Zubayr, few miles away from Basra.
"At least 10 people were killed. We also have 24 wounded," said Jabbar al-Saadi, according to Al Manar.
The Islamic State jihadist group, also known as ISIS/ISIL and Daesh in Arabic, claimed responsibility for deadly car bombing in Basra.
"The soldiers of the caliphate managed to detonate a parked car bomb amidst a gathering of polytheist Rafidha (Shiite Muslims) in Basra," the group said in a statement, according to Ahram.
At least 14 people were killed and 25 others were wounded in a third car bombing in Baghdad's Husseiniya neighborhood, reported Associated Press.
