BAGHDAD: A suicide car bomber killed at least 14 people including women and children packed into a minibus at a checkpoint outside a central Iraqi town on Monday morning, police and hospital sources said.
A police officer at the scene said most of the victims died inside their vehicles while waiting to enter Khalis, about 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad.
"We still have charred bodies inside many vehicles including a minibus packed with women and children," the police captain said, requesting anonymity.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Islamic State militants have stepped up attacks even as they incur battlefield setbacks in northern and western Iraq.
Hospital sources said the death toll was expected to rise given the extent of critical injuries.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has come under pressure to improve security since a suicide attack claimed by Islamic State earlier this month killed 292 people in central Baghdad, one of the largest attacks of its kind since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
The ultra-hardline militants have lost much of the territory they seized in 2014 and Abadi has pledged to retake this year the northern city of Mosul, the group's de facto capital in Iraq.
TOKEN2049 is global conference series where people interested in crypto meet to discuss ideas, network and shape the...
Chicago woman receives 50-year sentence without parole for killing pregnant teen and cutting baby from womb
Former president Donald Trump's trial commences with problems in jury selection
Republican candidate Trump lashes out at Judge Juan Merchan
"God's Misfits" are suspected to have murdered Kansas moms
Gulf region is facing severe emergency as result of heavy rains, flash flooding