LATEST ISIL BOMBING KILLS SCORES IN IRAQ

In the third bombing in or near Baghdad in the past two weeks, an attacker on Sunday crashed a fuel truck filled with explosives into a security checkpoint south of Baghdad, killing at least 47 and wounding scores of others, officials said.

The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack in an online statement, part of the group’s campaign to create havoc far from the front battle lines and force the government forces to overextend themselves.

CNN and other media outlets said the claim wasmade via the Islamic State- affiliated Amaq news agency and on social media.

The Islamic State, also known as ISIL or ISIS, has carried out scores of suicide bombings against Iraq’s security forces and the country’s Shiite Muslim majority. Hillah is in the mainly Shiite south, far from the main action in the government’s war with the Islamic State.