Seven killed in market car bombing near Iraq's Mosul

At least seven people were killed and more than 40 injured when a car bomb ripped through a market south of Mosul, Iraq, on Tuesday morning.

The blast hit the al-Qayyara district 70km south of the former the Islamic State capital in Iraq.

A local security source told The New Arab’s Arabic service that seven people were killed, including a security officer when the bomb exploded in the market in the centre of the district, adding that more than 40 civilians were injured, most of them seriously.

The source added that Iraqi security forces quickly implemented a swooping crackdown on the area in case of further attacks. The army and the police implemented a joint campaign of raids in the area surrounding the blast, reportedly making a number of arrests of locals who were taken for investigation.

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Cars and motorbikes were also stopped from approaching the market where the blast had taken place.

Al-Qayyara was held by IS after they swept through northern Iraq in 2014.

Despite the Iraqi military announcing last year that the country had been entirely liberated from Islamic State control, villages and rural areas surrounding Mosul still experience attacks from the militant group from time to time.

While IS has now lost all its urban footholds in Iraq it retains the capacity to launch deadly attacks, with cells operating in desert areas along the border with Syria.

Agencies contributed to this report.