Massive blast triggered by suicide bombers in fuel truck kills at least 47 in Iraq

A suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden fuel truck into a security checkpoint south of Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least 47 people and wounding dozens, officials said.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing in an online statement circulated by supporters.

It was the third massive bombing in and around Baghdad in a little over a week, and appeared to be part of a campaign by IS to stage attacks deep behind front lines in order to wreak havoc and force the government to overextend its forces.

Crowds gathered at the scene, picking through rubble and twisted car parts in search of survivors. Smoke rose from smoldering cars that had been lined up at the main checkpoint at the northern entrance to the city of Hillah, located about 95km south of Baghdad.

“The blast has completely destroyed the checkpoint and its buildings,” Falah al-Khafaji, a senior security official in Hillah, said as he stood at the edge of the blast site. “More than 100 cars have been damaged.”

IS has carried out scores of suicide bombings against security forces and the country’s Shiite majority. Hillah is in the country’s mainly Shiite south, far from the front lines of the war against IS.