Militant group Dae'sh claimed responsibility for a suicide attack with an explosive-laden fuel tanker on an Iraqi police checkpoint south of Baghdad, killing at least 60 people and wounding more than 70, reports Reuters quoting medical and security officials.
Responsibility was claimed in a posting on the website of the Amaq news agency, which supports the ultra-hardline Salafist group.
The explosion took place at Hilla, the capital of Babylon province, a predominantly Shia region with some Sunni presence.
A provincial hospital official confirmed the number of casualties. Many had suffered burn injuries.
The blast went off at around 1:00pm (local time), a time of day when vehicles are usually bumper-to-bumper, waiting to be checked by security personnel.
A doctor at Hilla hospital said at least 11 of the wounded were in a very serious condition.
A March 2014 suicide bombing at the same checkpoint outside Hilla killed 50 people and wounded more than 150.
Dae’sh group has not had fixed positions south of Baghdad since security forces and allied militias began their fightback against the jihadists in late 2014.
When Iraqi forces began their counter-offensive against Dae’sh, securing the Shia shrine cities of Najaf and Karbala, south of Baghdad, was a priority.
The jihadist group has since been losing territory in Iraq. In the most recent operation, Iraqi forces have been retaking areas west of the city of Samarra and are continuing to advance.
In the cities Dae’sh retains control over, internal tension appears to be on the rise and the lack of supplies is taking its toll.
Observers have warned that, as its self-proclaimed “caliphate” shrinks towards extinction, Dae’sh will likely revert to its old guerrilla tactics and ramp up suicide car bomb attacks on civilian targets.
“The Rafidha (a derogatory term for Shias) must understand that the battle has just begun and that the worst is yet to come,” The militant group said as it claimed Sunday’s bombing.
The attack on Hilla checkpoint was one of the deadliest bombings since a suicide explosion killed nearly 100 people in Diyala province, north of Baghdad, in July 2015.