BAGHDAD, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi government said at least three people were killed and 34 others wounded Tuesday when three suicide bombers attacked a restaurant in Iraq's north-central province of Salahudin.
The incident took place before noon when two suicide bombers detonated their explosive vests at al-Qal'a Restaurant in al-Hajjaj area in the south of the oil refinery town of Baiji, some 200 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, Brig. Gen. Saad Maan, Interior Ministry spokesman, said in a statement.
Security forces arrived at the scene and shot dead a third suicide bomber in front of the restaurant, the statement added.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks, but the Islamic State (IS) militant group, in most cases, is responsible for such suicide attacks targeting security forces and crowded areas, including markets, cafes and mosques across Iraq.
In Salahudin, the IS is still in control of Makhoul mountain range and the villages between the range and the western bank of the Tigris River.
The town of Shirqat on the eastern bank of the river, about 280 km north of Baghdad, as well as its surrounding villages and rural areas that stretch to the IS-held town of Hawijah in the western part of the oil-rich province of Kirkuk, are also under IS rule.
Iraqi security forces and allied paramilitary Hashd Shaabi units have freed the provincial capital Tikrit, about 170 km north of Baghdad, and other key cities and towns in the predominately Sunni Arab province of Salahudin.
