Iraq officials: Bombs in Diyala province kill over 40 people

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement circulated online by supporters.

The United Nations said last month that about 15,000 civilians have been killed in Iraq since the start of 2014.

Over 35 people have been killed and 65 others injured when two vehicles laden with explosives detonated in the towns of Hwaider and Kanan in Diyala Province, east of the capital, Baghdad on Monday.

It was not immediately clear who carried out a roadside bombing that happened in the same general area about an hour later that killed four more people, according to local officials.

Hospital officials corroborated the casualty reports to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to deal with the press.

The smaller attack hit a checkpoint run by a Shi’ite militia in the eastern part of the city, killing seven people and wounding another 25.

The Sunni-extremist Islamic State group considers Shiites to be apostates.

Pro-government forces are struggling to uproot Islamic State from large swathes of territory in northern and western Iraq which the group seized in a sweep across the Syrian border last summer.

In January Iraqi officials declared victory over the insurgents in Diyala province, after security and voluntary forces drove them out of towns and villages there.

The video, which is of higher quality than previous videos by the group in Afghanistan, is also of similar style of the group’s videos out of Syria and Iraq.