[caption id="attachment_111140" align="alignright" width="201"] The site of a car bomb blast in Baghdad, Iraq (file photo)[/caption]
A car bomb explosion has killed at least 17 people and injured 13 others in Iraqs Saladin Province, police and medical sources say.
Authorities said on Tuesday that the deadly attack took place on Monday evening in Abbasiya, around 15 kilometers (nine miles) north of the city of Samarra, when an assailant rammed an explosives-laden armored vehicle into houses.
Two residences were completely demolished in the attack, the sources added.
The destruction was huge. Those homes were by the (Tigris) river and had been requisitioned by the militiamen to use as an observation post, a police officer said.
He noted that the militiamen had been monitoring the river to prevent the Takfiri ISIL militants coming from the east from crossing over to the west bank.
The main road leading from the capital city of Baghdad to the north of Iraq runs through Samarra on the west bank of the Tigris.
The overall security situation in Iraq has worsened over the past months after the Takfiri terrorists of the ISIL, of whom many are foreign militants, took control of parts of Iraqs northern and western regions.
They have been committing heinous crimes in the captured areas, including mass executions and beheadings of people.
The Western governments have contributed to the rise of the ISIL terrorists by sponsoring the militants fighting against the government in Syria.
The militants received training to use light and heavy weapons with the help of the US government at a secret base in Jordan in 2012, informed Jordanian officials say.