KIRKUK, Iraq
The death toll from a car bomb attack in Kirkuk province of northern Iraq increased to 18, with 22 others wounded, security officials said late on Thursday.
Colonel Adil Zainal Abidin, the security director of Kirkuk, said an explosive-laden car blew up in front of Salah Teashop in the Kurdish neighborhood of Shorija. He added that two children were among the injured.
"We fear that the casualties will rise," Abidin told The Anadolu Agency.
As of yet, no group has claimed responsibility for the deadly attack.
According to health officials, the injured suffered severe burns and the blast damaged nearby workplaces and vehicles.
Security forces closed the traffic around the scene and launched an investigation into the explosion.
Iraq has been gripped by a security vacuum since June, when the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, stormed the northern province of Mosul and declared what it calls a caliphate in Iraq and Syria.
A U.S.-led international coalition is carrying out airstrikes to support Kurdish and central Iraqi government security forces in their fight against ISIL.
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