At least 10 killed in bombing at Iraq funeral

At least 10 people were killed and 14 wounded when two bombs went off on Thursday near the northern Iraqi town of Shirqat during a funeral for fighters killed by ISIL militants, local authorities said.

"Two bombs exploded as the funeral procession was entering the cemetery," local mayor Salaheddin Shaalan told AFP news agency.

Reuters put the death toll at 10, while AFP said 16 people were killed.

Most of the 14 people wounded in the blast were meanwhile in "critical conditions," Shaalan said. Officials said the injured could not be transported to a hospital outside the village as night had fallen and inhabitants feared being ambushed by ISIL.

The funerals were for fighters who had died a day earlier from the Tribal Mobilization Forces, a network of Sunni militias that back the government in its fight against ISIL militants.

They were killed in a jihadist attack on a military convoy in the village, 250 kilometers (150 miles) north of Baghdad, a police official said.

The Iraqi government declared victory over ISIL in December after pushing the jihadists out of their final holdouts along the border with Syria.

But the group retains the capacity to strike despite losing control of vast swathes of Iraqi territory it seized in 2014.

(REUTERS)