IS-claimed suicide bombings kill 35 in Iraq

The bombings, which hit Iraq the previous night, also wounded more than 50 people, officials said.

In Baghdad, suicide car bombers attacked in the area of a checkpoint in the city's southern Abu Dsheer area, killing 24 people and wounding 20, Brigadier General Saad Maan told AFP.

Security forces were able to kill one of the attackers, but the second blew up his car bomb, Maan said.

Eleven people, including five civilians and three officers, were killed in a separate suicide attack at a check point north of Basra.

At least 30 people were wounded in the attack, according to Riyadh Abdulamir, the head of Basra province health department.

Another militant who left a second explosives-rigged vehicle was killed by security forces, the Basra Operations Command said.

Islamic State [IS] group issued a statement claiming both attacks, but gave a different account on how they unfolded, claiming one militant clashed with security forces using a light weapon before detonating his explosive belt, after which a second militant blew up a car.

The militant group also said both bombers targeting the Basra checkpoint were successfully detonated.

The jihadi group over-ran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but Iraqi forces backed by US-led air strikes have since recaptured much of the territory they lost to the militants.

After recapturing the cities of Tikrit, Ramadi and Fallujah, Iraqi forces launched an operation to retake Mosul - at the time the largest population centre still in IS hands - last October.