At least 8 killed, 40 wounded in bomb attacks in Iraq

At least eight people were killed and 40 others wounded on Saturday in bomb attacks in a town in Iraq's northern central province of Salahudin, a local police source said.

The attack occurred in the afternoon in the town of Tuz-Khurmato, when a booby-trapped motorcycle went off near the building of a swimming pool, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

A minute later, a suicide bomber blew up his explosive vest among a crowd of people who gather on the site of the first blast, the source said.

The toll could rise as many of the wounded people sustained critical wounds, the source added.

The attackers apparently followed the old tactic which depends on creating an initial explosion to attract security forces and people, then they set off another blast to get heavier casualties, the source said.

The ethnically mixed town of Tuz-Khurmato is part of disputed areas between the Kurds, who want to annex it to their semi-autonomous region, and central government in Baghdad.

Salahudin province is a Sunni-dominated province and its capital Tikrit, is the hometown of former president Saddam Hussein.

The security situation in Iraq has drastically deteriorated since June 2014, when bloody clashes broke out between Iraqi security forces and IS militants. Endit