Car bomb attack kills at least 117 in Iraq

A car bomb attack at a popular market south of Baquba, Diyala province, eastern Iraq, killed at least 117 people and injured 140 others, according to the latest official toll released Saturday.

Mouthanna al-Temimi, governor of Baquba city, the provincial capital, told Anadolu Agency that the attack targeted a busy market in the town of Khan Beni Saad. 

He said the injured are currently being treated at the provincial hospital. He also called on the on the Ministry of Health in Baghdad to provide emergency medical assistance.

Al-Temimi said three days of mourning has been declared in the province and called on the government to investigate the attack.

A local police officer present at the scene told Anadolu Agency that the "the explosion caused great damage in shops and cars at the scene."

He said rescue teams pulled bodies out of the rubble several hundred meters from the site of the explosion, adding that the majority of the victims were women and children.

Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on Twitter, saying that it was in retaliation for the death of Sunnis in the city of al-Huweija in the northern part of the country.

The car was loaded with three tons of explosives, the statement added.

Earlier in the week, at least 21 people were killed in a series of explosions in Baghdad for which Daesh claimed responsibility.

Anadolu Agency