8 killed in car bomb at Iraq checkpoint

At least eight people were killed and 12 wounded in a suicide car bomb attack on a security checkpoint in western Iraq, the local mayor said today.

The attacker drove a car rigged with explosives into the checkpoint in Qaim district, which was jointly manned by the army and Shia militias, Mayor Ahmed Al-Mehlawy told Reuters.

Some of the wounded were in a critical condition, he said.

Qaim lies 300 kilometres west of Baghdad in the Sunni province of Anbar.

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Al-Mehlawy said five militiamen and three civilians were killed.

The Iraqi military put its initial death toll at seven.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but Daesh militants operate in the area.

Iraq declared victory over Daesh in December, dislodging the group from all the territory it held after its self-proclaimed caliphate, which also encompassed part of Syria, collapsed earlier in 2017.

The group’s fighters have since then waged a campaign of kidnappings and killings.