IS claim deadly car blast that killed two in Iraq's Tal Afar

The Islamic State group on Tuesday claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack that killed two people is the extremists' former stronghold of Tal Afar in northern Iraq.

The bombing marks the extremist group's first attack in Tal Afar since Iraqi forces retook the city from the IS in August last year.

"A car bomb exploded near a cafe in the Ras al-Jadah district in the centre of Tal Afar," said Abed Alaal Abbas, an official in the city some 70 kilometres (40 miles) west of Mosul.

The blast "killed two and wounded 11 other civilians", he told AFP.

Iraq's joint operations command confirmed the toll.

IS claimed responsibility for the attack on the Telegram messaging application, saying the blast killed three.

The 2017 recapture of the city, which lies between Mosul and the Syrian border, was hailed as a major victory against the militants, who seized nearly one third of Iraq in a sweeping 2014 offensive.

Some 200,000 residents live in the city, which was the last area to be retaken in the north before fighting moved to the Syrian border.