19 people killed, 70 injured in bomb blast in Salahuddin

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Salahuddin (IraqiNews.com) Nineteen people were killed and 70 others  were injured in a car bomb blast in Tuz Khurmatu region in Salahuddin province on Tuesday, according to a medical source.

A booby-trapped vehicle exploded near an overcrowded market at the Military District in Salahuddin province, a medical source told Al-Ghad Press on Tuesday, adding that the number of casualties is expected to rise.

Last week, Al-Hashd al-Shaabi [Popular Mobilization Forces], backed by Federal Police, repelled an attack by IS members near Salahuddin, a source told Baghdad Today.

“The attack targeted checkpoints for PMFs in al-Bu Eissa village, on borders between Salahuddin and located adjacent to Mutaibija,” the source said.

Salahuddin province was rocked by a wave of deadly suicide bombings this year.

US-backed Iraqi forces have dislodged Islamic State from most of the cities it captured in 2014 and 2015. The militants also control parts of Syria.

Tuz Khurmatu was one of the areas disputed by Iraq and Kurdistan Region. Iraqi forces recaptured the area mid October as part of a government push to impose control over disputed territories in response to Kurdistan’s independence referendum held in September.

Iraq declared recently the end of Islamic State’s territorial influence in Iraq with the recapture of the militants’ last stronghold: Anbar’s town of Rawa.