A firefighter hoses down a street after a suicide bomb attack in the city of Kerbala, Iraq June 9, 2017. REUTERS/Stringer

 

HILLA: A woman detonated her explosive belt in a market east of the holy city of Kerbala on Friday, killing at least 30 and wounding 35, Iraqi security sources said.

Daesh claimed the attack in the town of Musayab, south of Baghdad, in a statement on its Amaq news agency. It didn't identify the bomber.

A security officer said the assailant was a woman who hid the bomb under the customary full-body veil.

The attack comes as Daesh is about to lose Mosul to a US-backed Iraqi offensive launched in October.

Suicide bomber kills 20 in market south of Baghdad: officials

The group is also on the backfoot in neighboring Syria, retreating in the face of a US-backed Kurdish-led coalition attacking its capital there, Raqqa.

Iranian-backed paramilitaries are taking part in the campaign fighting Daesh in Iraq, attacking the group in the border region near Syria.

Daesh declared a self-styled "caliphate" over parts of Syria and Iraq three years ago.