Daesh Suicide Truck Bomb Kills 47 S. Baghdad

Local Editor

A suicide truck bomb attack claimed by Daesh [the Arabic acronym for "ISIS"] killed 47 people at a crowded checkpoint south of Baghdad Sunday.

The massive blast completely destroyed the checkpoint manned by security forces guarding the northern entrance to Hilla, an area that had recently been spared such attacks.

Relatively, the head of the security committee at Babel provincial council, Faleh al-Radhi, said: "The suicide bomber used an explosives-laden truck, at a time when there was dense traffic."

Meanwhile, a doctor at the hospital of al-Hilla put the number of people killed by the blast at 47, including around 20 members of the security forces, adding that at least 72 people were also wounded.

The doctor also noted that at least 11 of the wounded were in a very serious condition.

In parallel, Radhi and police officers confirmed the casualty toll, the heaviest from any car bomb attack in Iraq this year.

The blast went off at around 1:00 pm local time, during which vehicles are usually bumper-to-bumper, waiting to be checked by security personnel.

In addition, an AFP photographer at the scene reported that there was almost nothing left of the checkpoint.

The attack on Hilla checkpoint was one of the deadliest bombings since a suicide explosion killed nearly 100 people in Dayala province, north of Baghdad, in July 2015.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team