Five killed as car bomb hits diners in Iraq

SAMARRA, Iraq — Extremists attacked a restaurant north of the Iraqi capital with a car bomb on Wednesday, killing five people and wounding more than 30, medical and police sources said.

Suspected Daesh group members planted the bomb in a pickup left outside the restaurant by an important highway in Hajjaj, a police officer told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"Five people were killed and 32 wounded," in the bombing near Tikrit city, 175 kilometres north of Baghdad, the officer said.

The attack took place during lunchtime and targeted "a restaurant where there were travellers returning from Baghdad to Dahuk" in Iraqi Kurdistan to the north, the police officer said.

Medical sources said women and children were among those wounded, while confirming five people were killed.

The restaurant had already been attacked by two suicide bombers in the spring, the police officer said.

On Monday, security forces said they had killed 13 militants north of Tikrit as part of a large-scale land and air operation against extremists in Iraq's desert and mountainous areas.

Although Baghdad declared victory over Daesh in December, members of the militant group continue to carry out deadly attacks.

On Tuesday a suicide bomber killed a member of the security forces and injured four others in Anbar province, a western desert area, a security official said.

That attack came a day after militants killed four people in Khanaqin north-east of Baghdad, including two Kurdish fighters who were on leave, according to a Kurdish political official in the area.

"Daesh fighters kidnapped six people. Two were freed and four others were beheaded," the official said on condition of anonymity.