A suicide car bomb exploded yesterday at a police checkpoint in Baghdad that killed 23 people and injured 40 more, according to police and medical records.

A police colonel said the suicide bomber detonated a car bomb that targeted a police checkpoint located at the north-western placed of Kadhimiyah, a predominantly Shiite neighborhood.

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Nine of those killed were policemen manning the post while more than 40 people got injured during the blast.

Reports said that the Shiite neighbourhood where the suicide bombing occurred is home to one of the holiest sites of Shiite worship. The neighborhood shrine was named Musa Kadhim, after the seventh of the 12 imams in Islam.

The Sunni district of Adhamiyah Shiite neighbourhood of Kadhimiya has been a frequent target for crimes and conflicts since the sectarian tension in Baghdad started.

At Nahrawan, another suicide car bomb killed three people and wounded eight. The remains of the blast found in a market 20 kilometres southeast from the capital.

There were also Sunni groups who held rallies after the Islamic State while several volunteers of Shiite are flocking to join militias in order to counter this.

The militant Islamic State and the Levant seized large parts of northern Iraq and has claimed responsibility for various suicide bombings in the area.

A full-fledged war had taken place between Sunni and Shiite muslims in which Sunni militants had swept across Iraq's western and northern areas.

As of this writing, the latest count of suicide bombings is 27, but the numbers are rising. There were also reports of kidnappings and killings in other areas of Iraq.

Tagssuicide bomber, Bagdhad, deaths