The first car bombing in Iraq's city of Karbala in more than two years killed at least three people Tuesday (June 7th), officials said of an attack claimed by the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL).
The blast in a neighbourhood of Karbala, 80 kilometres south-west of Baghdad, also wounded 33 people, AFP reported.
"A car bomb was detonated at an intersection in Al-Muwadhafeen neighbourhood, around three kilometres from the city centre," the joint operations command said in a statement.
In a statement posted on social media, ISIL said it was a suicide attack carried out by a man it named as Abu Malik al-Iraqi.
Bombings in Karbala are rare but the city, which is home to the mausoleums of revered Shia imams Hussein and Abbas, borders Anbar province where Iraqi forces are currently battling ISIL.
