At least 38 people are killed and 86 others injured in two car bombs in the southern Iraqi city of Samawa, security and medical officials say.
A police official said the first explosion took place around midday Sunday near government offices in the center of Samawa, while the second blast occurred minutes later at a bus station in an open-air area.
"The hospitals have received 38 dead," AFP quoted a senior official in the Muthanna health department, which covers Samawa, as saying.
Samawa, a Shia-dominated city, is located some 370km south of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
The official also noted that the death toll from both blasts is expected to rise. A medical official also confirmed the number of casualties.
Online photographs showed huge plumes of smoke rising above buildings and a number of burnt out cars and bodies lying on the ground at the site of the first attack.
The Takfiri group Daesh (ISIS) claimed responsibility for both attacks.
S/SH 11
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