Deadly Baghdad suicide bombing targets Shia area

{At least 11 Iraqis killed aftert bomber blows himself up at police checkpoint in the mainly Shia district of Kadhimiya.}

A suicide bomber has detonated an explosive vest near a security checkpoint in northwest Baghdad, Iraqi officials said.

A police officer told the Associated Press news agency that an attacker on foot blew himself up on Sunday morning at one of the entrances to the Shia district of Kadhimiyah, killing at least eight civilians and three policemen. Another 20 other people were wounded.

Sources at the Kadhimiya hospital, where victims of the blast were taken, said the death toll could rise as some of the wounded were in a critical condition.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Baghdad is on high alert for attacks after a blast in the central Karada district on July 3, claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), killed more than 300 people. It was one of the deadliest bombings since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Earlier this month, visiting US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Washington will send 560 more troops to Iraq to help in the fight against ISIL, also known as ISIS.

The United Nations says more than 3,000 civilians have been killed in violence across the country this year.