Car bombing kills 16 in Iraq; IS claims responsibility

Iraq: Islamic State group IS has claimed responsibility for a suicide car bomb attack that killed 16 people including a group of women and children crowded inside a minibus outside an Iraqi town on Monday.  

According to a police officer at the scene of the incident, most of the victims died inside their vehicles as they were waiting at a checkpoint to enter Khalis, which is about 80km north of Baghdad.

"We still have charred bodies inside many vehicles including a minibus packed with women and children," the police officer said.

Amaq news agency, a media house that supports Islamic State, claimed the attack had targeted Iraqi troops in Khalis, which is located in the eastern province of Diyala, a mixed Sunni-Shi'ite Muslim area bordering Iran.