Iraqi Suicide Bomb Kills Dozens

From Reuters

From Al Jazeera America

A car bomb detonates at a checkpoint during morning rush hour in southern Iraq, killing dozens. 

A suicide car bomber set off his explosive-laden vehicle at a security checkpoint in the southern Iraqi city of Hilla on Sunday, killing at least 22 people and wounding 147, officials said. The attack was the latest in a string believed designed to destabilize the country in the run-up to scheduled elections,.

The explosion went off at the main checkpoint at a northern entrance to the largely Shia Muslim city during morning rush hour as dozens of cars were waiting to be searched. Thirteen civilians, including a woman and 12-year old child, and nine security personnel were killed, two police officers told the Associated Press, with at least 55 other people were wounded, they said.

Reuters reported a death toll of at least 32 with 147 people wounded.

Police say the victims' burns suggested the bomber packed his car with liquid fuel, probably gasoline.

At least 50 cars were set ablaze with passengers trapped inside and part of the checkpoint complex was destroyed, an officer told Reuters.

Iraq has seen a spike in violence since last April, with the death toll climbing to its highest levels since the worst of the country's sectarian bloodletting in 2006 though 2008. The U.N. says8,868 people were killed in 2013, and more than 1,400 people were killed in January and February of this year.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks, but they bore the hallmarks of an Al-Qaeda breakaway group that frequently uses car bombs and suicide attacks to target public areas and government buildings in their bid to undermine confidence in the government.