Bomb in Iraq Graveyard Kills Five

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A bomb went off in a graveyard south of Baghdad Thursday, killing five people among a group of mourners at a burial, Iraq's interior ministry spokesman said.

The attack took place in Haswa, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of the capital, the same area where a suicide bombing ripped through a football trophy ceremony in March.

"A bomb went off in a graveyard in Haswa as a family were preparing to bury a relative," Saad Maan said in a statement.

"The bomb exploded near the grave... and killed five mourners and wounded 14," he said.

A police officer in Haswa gave the same account of the attack.

The March 26 attack on a football pitch in the same village had left at least 32 dead, mostly young boys from the village, and sparked international condemnation.

There was no immediate claim for Thursday's attack.

The Islamic State group has carried out several large and very deadly bomb attacks south of Baghdad in recent weeks.

At least 33 people were killed in twin suicide bombings in the town of Samawa on Sunday, a rare attack by the jihadists in the deep Shiite south of Iraq.

At least 61 people were killed when a massive truck bomb exploded at a checkpoint at one of the entrances to the city of Hilla on March 6.

The jihadist IS has been losing territory steadily in Iraq for almost a year.

Observers have warned that, as their self-proclaimed "caliphate" shrinks, IS fighters are likely to revert to their old guerrilla tactics and ramp up suicide attacks on civilian targets.

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