Car bombing kills at least 10 in Iraq's Baquba

A car bomb exploded on Monday in a busy area of the Iraqi city of Baquba, in Diyala province, killing at least 10 people, a senior military official and a doctor said.

"A car bomb went off in the Shifta area of central Baquba, killing 10 people and wounding 35. This is an initial toll," a lieutenant colonel in the regional operations command said.

A doctor at Baquba hospital and a police captain gave the same toll.

Shifta is a busy area in central Baquba, a city which is the capital of the province of Diyala and lies about 70 kilometres (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad.

A security source told The New Arab that the car bomb was parked close to a funeral and a busy restaurant when it went off on Monday evening.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but all such bombings recently have been claimed by the Islamic State group that took over large parts of Iraq nearly two years ago.

Diyala province was declared liberated from IS in January 2015, but ending their open control of populated areas has not brought an end to attacks.

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Baquba and other towns in Diyala province have been hit by a number of large bomb attacks carried out by the jihadists.

Najat al-Taei, a member of Diyala's provincial council said those in charge of security need to be held responsible for the latest breach.

"Security leaders need to carry out their duties and ensure the safety of citizens by instating effective plans that are able to counter-terrorism,' Taei told The New Arab.