1st LD: At least 35 killed in car bomb attack in Iraq's Diyala

At least 35 people were killed and 40 others wounded on Monday in a car bomb attack at a marketplace in Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, a provincial police source told Xinhua.

The powerful blast occurred when a booby-trapped car parking at parking lot in a busy popular market in the town of Khalis in north of the provincial capital city of Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad, the source said on condition of anonymity.

The explosion left several nearby civilian cars charred and damaged many others, while many shops and stalls were also destroyed and damaged in the surrounding area, the source said.

Iraqi security forces sealed off the area while ambulances and civilian cars were evacuating the human casualties to the city's main hospital and other medical centers, the source added.

Diyala province, which stretches from the eastern edges of Baghdad to the border in east of the country, has long been a volatile area since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 despite repeated military operations against the militant groups.

Iraq has been witnessing some of the worst violence in years. According to a recent United Nations report, terrorism and violence have left at least 12,282 civilians dead and 23,126 others injured in 2014, making it the deadliest year since the flare-up of sectarian violence in 2006-2007. Endit