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Islamic State claims Iraq car bombs that kill nearly 60

Both blasts were in predominantly Shiite Muslim areas.

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“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, according to the AFP news agency.

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

The more severe of Monday’s two attacks happened near the provincial capital, Baquba, located 35 miles (60km) north east of Baghdad. The mostly Shia victims were gathered to mark the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks.

Islamic State militants have recently launched a series of bombings in Baghdad and other provinces – including a massive attack earlier in July in Diyala Province that killed more than 100 people.

Iraq has been gripped by a security vacuum since June 2014 when Daesh stormed the northern city of Mosul and declared a self-styled caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria.

Residents in Diyala have been calling for greater protection by security forces after Islamic State bombed a crowded marketplace last month, killing 115 people, including women and children.

Jihadists have killed 33 people in Iraq, including 20 at a suicide bombing at a market place, Iraqi police say.

IS said it was behind the attack and that it was carried out by a Sudanese militant named by the group as Abu Jafar al-Sudani.

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The jihadist group’s fighters last month lost control of Derna, which had been a bastion of IS since late past year.

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              18 killed in Iraq bombing