IS suicide bombers target peaceful oasis town in Iraq

Suicide bombers targeted an oasis town south of Baghdad killing at least eight people and wounded at least six on Monday, Iraqi officials said.

The attack in Ain al-Tamer involved six suicide bombers, some of whom may have been killed by security forces before they could blow themselves up.

According to Masum al-Tamimi, a member of the Karbala provincial council, the six suicide bombers armed with light weapons and explosives clashed with security forces before withdrawing to the al-Jihad area and detonating explosives there.

The interior ministry issued a statement on the attack, saying that five of the bombers were killed by security forces while the sixth detonated explosives inside a house.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but all recent suicide operations in Iraq have been claimed by the Islamic State group.

They have stepped up attacks on security forces and the country's Shia majority in recent months as it has suffered a string of battlefield setbacks.

Attacks in southern Iraq are rare, especially compared to the frequent bombings that hit Baghdad.

But Ain al-Tamer, which located about 50 kilometres west of the holy Shia city of Karbala, lies on the edge of the sprawling province of Anbar, sharing borders with Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria, and has long been a haven for extremists.

Hundreds of thousands of faithful Shia have been marching to Karbala to commemorate the end of the 40-day mourning period of the seventh century death of Imam Hussein, Prophet Mohammed's grandson.

A similar attack involving militants armed with explosives, rifles and grenades hit a wedding in Ain al-Tamer in late August, killing 18 people and wounding at least 26.

IS issued a statement claiming responsibility for that attack.

The extremist group overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but Iraqi forces backed by US-led air strikes have since regained much of the territory they lost to IS two years ago.

Iraqi forces are now fighting to retake the northern city of Mosul, the last major population centre held by IS in the country.