Bombs in Iraq’s Diyala province kill at least 42

In January Iraqi authorities reported triumph over the insurgents in Diyala territory, which actually frontiers Iran, after intrusion influences and Shi’ite paramilitaries horde rid of them of villages and communities generally there.

“The attacker managed to pass a checkpoint by lining up with a wedding motorcade and then split off with his explosives-packed vehicle to blow it up in a crowded marketplace”, said Diyala police captain Mohammed al-Tamimi.

In Kanaan, IS said the attack targeted a gathering of Shiite militiamen and soldiers.

Four civilians who were passing the checkpoint were also wounded in the blast, the source added. An ISIS auto bomb attack at a popular marketplace south of Baquba had killed more than 100 people last month.

Baghdad vowed to increase security in Diyala after that bombing, but now the government is focusing most of its attention on combating ISIS in the western province of Anbar.

IS no longer has fixed positions in the province, but have reverted to their old tactics of planting vehicle bombs and carrying out suicide operations or hit-and-run attacks.

The group now controls about a third of Iraq and Syria in a self-declared “caliphate”.

“Women and children were among the deaths, while some 20 wounded people are in critical conditions”, a security source told Xinhua.

But anger is rife in the volatile province, where a number of towns were captured by the Islamic State group previous year.

Videos posted on social media after that blast showed fire, bodies and debris over a wide area.