IS truck bomb in Iraq sows carnage among Shiite pilgrims, at least 70 killed

Hilla (Iraq): A suicide bombing claimed by the Islamic State group killed at least 70 people, mainly Shiite pilgrims, south of Baghdad on Thursday, in the latest jihadist attack as Iraqi forces battle to retake Mosul.

The huge truck bomb blast ripped through a petrol station where buses packed with faithful returning from the Arbaeen commemoration in Karbala were parked, officials said.

Most of the victims were Iranians, the largest contingent of foreigners in the pilgrimage, which is one of the world's largest religious events and culminated on Monday.

The attack took place near a village called Shomali, about 120 kilometres southeast of Baghdad.

IS, which is fighting to defend its Mosul stronghold in northern Iraq, claimed responsibility for the attack.

In a statement quoted by the SITE Intelligence Group, IS said a bomber "blew up his vehicle amidst their assembly, inflicting among them more than 200 killed and wounded, including Iranians."

Falah al-Radhi, head of the provincial security committee for Babylon, the province where the bombing happened, said it had targeted several buses.

"A large truck exploded among them. It was a suicide attack," he told AFP. "There are at least 70 dead, fewer than 10 are Iraqis, the rest are Iranians."

Videos circulating on social media showed debris scattered over a large area along the main highway linking Baghdad to the main southern port city of Basra.

"There are completely charred corpses at the scene," said Radhi, who added that at least 20 wounded were transferred to nearby hospitals.

The Joint Operations Command in Baghdad issued a statement saying the truck was packed with 500 litres of ammonium nitrate, a chemical compound used in many explosive devices.

Up to 20 million people visited Karbala, home to the mausoleum of Imam Hussein, for Arbaeen this year. According to the Iraqi authorities, around three million of them were Iranians.

Iraq had deployed around 25,000 members of the security forces in and around the shrine city, which lies southwest of Baghdad, to protect the pilgrims from a feared IS attack.

The jihadist group, which is losing ground in Mosul, has carried out a series of high-profile diversionary attacks since Iraqi forces launched a huge offensive against their northern stronghold last month.

Elite forces battled IS jihadists in eastern Mosul today, looking for fresh momentum in their five-week-old offensive to retake Iraq's second city.

Maan al-Saadi, a commander with the Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), said on the front line in Mosul that his forces were fighting IS in the neighbourhood of Al-Khadraa.

"They cannot flee. They have two choices -- give up or die," he said.

Over the past few days, Iraqi forces have cut off the main supply line running from Mosul to the western border with Syria, where IS still controls the city of Raqa.

The US-led coalition also bombed bridges over the Tigris river that splits Mosul in two, reducing the jihadists' ability to resupply the eastern front.