BAGHDAD — An Iraqi spokesman says two suicide car bombings targeting security checkpoints in the city of Fallujah have killed at least two people.

Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen Saad Maan says that Sunday's attacks killed a civilian and a policeman, and wounded seven.

A local police and a medical official put the casualty toll at three killed and 11 wounded. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they're not authorized to talk to reporters.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement. The authenticity of the claim couldn't be confirmed but it was posted on a militant commonly used by the extremists.

Last month, IS launched three separate suicide attacks in and near Fallujah, killing at least 16 people. Fallujah was recaptured from IS in June. </s> BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Eight people were killed in two car bombings in the Iraqi city of Falluja west of Baghdad on Sunday, police and hospital sources said, and a news agency close to Islamic State said its militants carried out the attacks.

The bombings took place as Iraqi forces wage an eight-week military campaign to crush Islamic State in its north Iraq stronghold of Mosul, the largest city in its self-declared caliphate in Iraq and Syria.

The fact that the jihadist group was able to carry out the attack in Falluja, which the Iraqi army recaptured in June, suggests it will continue to pose a threat in Iraq even if it is finally crushed in Mosul.

The sources said a suicide bomber detonated a car at a security checkpoint in the west of the city, and a second bomb in a parked car struck the center, near a security checkpoint and a busy cafe.

Sources at the hospital where casualties from both incidents were brought said eight bodies were delivered to the hospital.

The Amaq news agency, which is close to Islamic State, said both attacks were carried out by suicide car bombers.

The attacks in Falluja occurred on the day that U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter visited Iraq for talks with political leaders and the U.S. commander of the international coalition force supporting them in the grueling Mosul campaign.

Elite Iraqi counter terrorism forces have taken about a quarter of the city of Mosul from Islamic State fighters, but they have faced fierce counter attacks from snipers, mortar barrages and hundreds of suicide car bombs.

Insurgents in Falluja, the first Iraqi city to fall to Islamic State in January 2014, put up only limited resistance in June, military officials said at the time, in contrast to the fierce defense the jihadists have put up in Mosul. </s> A car bomb in Baghdad has killed at least 48 people and injured dozens of others, according to medics.

The explosion ripped through Iraq's capital shortly before sunset on Thursday.

The car bomb claimed the lives of at least 48 people, and reportedly wounded more than 50 others, after exploding in the southwestern al-Bayaa neighborhood.

Officials speaking on the condition of anonymity said the bombing had targeted cars agents and dealers.

According to reports the bombing has been claimed by the so-called Islamic State. </s> BAGHDAD, Feb 16 (Reuters) - A car packed with explosives blew up on Thursday in southern Baghdad, killing at least 18 people and wounding about 50, security and medical sources said.

The vehicle was parked in a crowded street full of garages and used car dealers, in Hayy al-Shurta, security sources said. The death toll could climb further as many of the wounded are in critical condition, a doctor said.

The bombing, the deadliest so far this year in Baghdad, is the second to hit car markets this week, after one on Wednesday.

Islamic State has stepped up bombings in Iraq in retaliation for a U.S.-backed campaign that dislodged the hardline Sunni group from most Iraqi cities it took over in 2014. The militants also control parts of neighbouring Syria.

A suicide bomber detonated a pick-up truck on Wednesday in the Sadr City suburb of the capital, killing at least 15 and wounding 50. The explosion also targeted a street full of used car dealers. (Reporting by Maher Chmaytelli; editing by John Stonestreet and Dominic Evans) </s> BAGHDAD: A car bombing on Monday evening in the Iraqi capital Baghdad killed at least 23 people and wounded 45, an interior ministry official told AFP.



The blast happened at 7:00 pm (1600 GMT) in the west of the city, he added. </s> No fewer than 48 deaths have been recorded in Baghdad following a car bomb explosion in the Shia area of al-Bayaa in the south of the city. The explosion came from a car which was filled with explosives and parked near a car dealership in Shia. This is the third blast to occur in Baghdad in three days. The first car bomb attack occurred on Tuesday in the south of Baghdad while another attack on used-car dealers happened on Wednesday, killing 18 people.Asides the 48 people killed in today's bomb blast, security and medical sources say that over 50 people were injured.No sect has claimed responsibility for this latest attack. </s> At least 50 people including Iranians were killed today in twin gun and car bomb attacks near the city of Nasiriyah in southern Iraq, according to a new toll.

"The toll has now reached 50 dead and 87 wounded," Abdel Hussein al-Jabri, deputy health chief for the mainly Shiite province of Dhiqar of which Nasiriyah is the capital, told AFP.

He warned that the death toll could rise as many of the wounded were in serious condition. </s> BAGHDAD, Feb 16 (Reuters) - A car packed with explosives blew up on Thursday in the south of Baghdad, killing eight and wounding at least 40, security sources said.

The vehicle was parked in a street full of garages and used car dealers, in Hayy al-Shurtathey said.

A suicide bomber detonated a pick-up truck on Wednesday in the Sadr City suburb of the capital, killing at least 15 and wounding 50. The explosion also targeted a street full of used car dealers.

Islamic State has stepped up bombings in Iraq in retaliation for a U.S.-backed campaign that dislodged the hardline Sunni group from most Iraqi cities it took over in 2014. The militants also control parts of neighboring Syria. </s> A car bomb blast killed at least 23 people and wounded more than 45 others in a mainly Shi'ite district in southern Baghdad on Monday, police and medical sources said.

The explosion occurred on a busy commercial street in the Amil neighborhood, the sources said.
Two car bombings kill at least eight people in Fallujah.