IS woman suicide bomber kills tens in town's market near Shia holy city of Karbala

Twin suicide bomb attacks in a town's market and the Shia holy city of Karbala, on Friday killed at least 21 people and wounded 40, security sources said.

"A suicide bomber blew themselves up at the entrance of Musayyib market, causing 21 civilian martyrs," a source in the Babil Governorate police force told The New Arab.

At least 30 other people were wounded in the attack in the centre of Musayyib, a town that lies about 60 kilometres south of the capital Baghdad, the police officer added.

Security sources told Reuters that the assailant was a woman who had hid the bomb under the customary full-body veil.

Women have been banned from wearing the burqa, also known as the niqab, in the flashpoint city of Mosul during the holy month of Ramadan in a bid to prevent such attacks.

The attack came hours after another suicide bomber blew himself up at the main bus station in the nearby city of Karbala, wounding an additional 10 civilians, sources told The New Arab.

Both attacks were claimed by the Islamic State group through its propaganda agency Amaq, which in both cases spoke of a "martyrdom-seeking operation" using an explosive vest.

More than 40 people were killed and dozens wounded in a spate of attacks on May 30, a few days after the beginning of Ramadan, including a devastating blast at an ice cream shop in central Baghdad's Karrada neighbourhood.

It was during Ramadan last year that IS carried out its deadliest ever attack in the Iraqi capital with a truck bomb that set two shopping arcades ablaze, also in Karrada, resulting in more than 320 deaths.

The bombings in Baghdad come as Iraqi forces fight to retake the last IS-held areas of Mosul, a city that was the jihadis group's emblematic stronghold.

Iraqi forces are almost eight months into a massive operation to recapture the second city and have already taken back its whole eastern side and much of the west.