By Ibrahim Saleh

BAGHDAD (AA): Eleven people were killed and another 23 injured on Monday when a convoy of Shia Muslim militiamen was targeted by a suicide car-bomber in Baghdad’s southern Al-Yousifiya district, according to a local police source.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Police First Lieutenant Nasser al-Hanoun told Anadolu Agency that the bomber had driven his explosives-laden vehicle into a convoy of Hashd al-Shaabi militiamen as it passed along Al-Yousifiya’s international highway.

The Hashd al-Shaabi is an umbrella group of pro-government Shia Muslim militia groups established in 2014 to fight the Daesh terrorist group.

Casualties from Monday’s suicide bombing include Hashd al-Shaabi fighters and army and police personnel, along with civilians.

As of midday, no group had yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

Earlier the same day, Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi warned that Daesh would likely carry out attacks in government-controlled areas to coincide with a broad army operation — which officially kicked off early Monday — aimed at clearing Iraq’s northern city of Mosul of terrorist elements.

[Photo: Smoke rises after Deash’s suicide car bomb attack in Bedene Village during an operation to retake Iraq’s Mosul from Deash in Iraq on October 17, 2016. Photographer: Muhabiri Hamit Hüseyin/AA]