Bomb attacks in Iraq's Diyala kill and wound dozens

BAQUBA, Iraq -Three explosions, two of them suicide bombings, killed at least 33 people near Baquba, the capital of Iraq's restive eastern province of Diyala on Monday, police and medics said.

The deadliest of Monday's bombings was in an area called Huwaydir. Security sources and medics at the main hospital in Baquba said at least 20 people were killed there and 45 wounded.

"A suicide bomber driving a booby-trapped vehicle blew himself up in the middle of the central market area in Huwaydir," a police lieutenant-colonel said.

Another suicide bomber drove his explosives-laden vehicle past a checkpoint before blowing himself up in Kanaan district, killing at least 10 and wounding the same number, a police captain said.

An improvised explosive device also went off in a neighbourhood between Baquba and Huwaydir, killing three and wounding four, the same source said.

It was not immediately clear how many of the victims were civilians.

The Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the two suicide attacks in statements released on social media.

Residents in Diyala have been calling for a greater security presence since IS bombed a crowded marketplace last month, killing 115 people, including women and children. Primarily Shia victims, people had gathered to mark the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, reported US News and World Report.

The government in Baghdad has promised to find those responsible and to better protect Diyala, but residents’ anger is rife in the region.

Baghdad announced in January that Iraqi forces had "liberated" Diyala, a religiously and ethnically mixed province which was partly overrun by IS after they launched a brutally effective offensive last June.

IS no longer has fixed positions in the province, but has reverted to using car bombs and carrying out suicide operations or hit-and-run attacks.