Islamic State truck bomb kills at least 60 people south of Baghdad

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Responsibility was claimed in a posting on the website of the Amaq news agency, which supports the ultra-hardline Sunni group.

"A martyr's operation with a truck bomb hit the Babylon Ruins checkpoint at the entrance of the city of Hilla, killing and wounding dozens," the statement on the Amaq website said.

Hilla is the capital of Babylon province, a predominantly Shi'ite region with some Sunni presence.

"It's the largest bombing in the province to date," Falah al-Radhi, the head of the provincial security committee, told Reuters. "The checkpoint, the nearby police station were destroyed as well as some houses and dozens of cars."

A provincial hospital official confirmed the number of casualties. Many had suffered burn injuries.

(Reporting by Ali al-Rubaie and Saif Hameed; Writing by Maher Chmaytelli; Editing by David Goodman and Susan Thomas)