Iraq officials: vehicle bomb in eastern Diyala province kills 12

Iraqi officials say a series of auto bombings across Iraq Monday killed and wounded dozens of people.

The explosion, which occurred around 5:30 pm (1430 GMT), rocked a market area known as Souk al-Halaqin in Zubayr, just 10 kilometres (six miles) southwest of the oil hub of Basra, he said.

The Islamic State, a Sunni terrorist group occupying portions of western and northern Iraq, said it was responsible for the attack in Basra, but the other bombings have gone unclaimed.

According to the BBC, the largest bombs went-off in the Shia-majority town of Khalis in the eastern province of Diyala, killing more than 40 people.

In Diyala province north of Baghdad, at least 45 people were killed and 70 wounded when a vehicle bomb exploded in a busy outdoor market in the town of Al-Khalis on Monday afternoon, according to Hassan Shallal, the town’s mayor.

While Islamic State (IS) militants said they carried out the blast near Basra, no group has so far claimed responsibility for the other attacks.

Hospital officials confirmed the death tolls.

In the capital, Baghdad, at least 12 people were killed and 25 wounded when a vehicle bomb exploded in the northeastern neighborhood of Husseiniyah.

The jihadists, who consider Shiites heretics, no longer have fixed positions in the province, but have reverted to their old tactics of planting auto bombs and carrying out suicide operations or hit-and-run attacks.

Iraq has been witnessing a few of the worst violence in years. Iraqi officials said the attack hit a commercial area, killing at least 32 people and wounding 58 others.