Truck bomb in northern Iraqi town kills at least 20

At least 20 people were killed and 40 wounded when a suicide bomber set off a truck bomb near a crowded marketplace in the northern Iraqi city of Tuz Khurmatu, police and medical sources said on Tuesday.

An interior ministry spokesman confirmed that a "violent explosion" took place near a vegetable market in Tuz Khurmatu, south of Kirkuk, but did not immediately provide casualty figures.

Most of the casualties were civilians, the police and medical sources added.

The death toll was expected to rise because many of the wounded were in critical condition.

The bombing took place in a mainly Shia Turkmen area.

Tuz Khurmatu, home to a mixed Kurdish, Arab and Turkmen population, was the scene of deadly violence in mid-October when Iraqi forces retook it from Kurdish Regional Government’s control in response to a independence referendum.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but suicide bombings are a trademark of Daesh terrorists.

Iraqi security officials have said Daesh is likely to wage an insurgency in Iraq after its self-proclaimed caliphate collapsed and the militants were dislodged from the territories they held in the country.