Car bomb in Iraq's Tal Afar kills two

TAL AFAR: At least two people were killed and 11 others wounded on Tuesday when a car bomb rocked the former militant stronghold of Tal Afar in northern Iraq, officials said.

"A car bomb exploded near a cafe in the Ras al-Jadah district in the centre of Tal Afar," said Abed Alaal Abbas, an official in the city some 70 kilometres (40 miles) west of Mosul.

The blast "killed two and wounded 11 other civilians", he told AFP.

Iraq's joint operations command confirmed the toll.

There was no immediate claim for the attack, the first in Tal Afar since Iraqi forces retook the city from the Islamic State group in August last year.

The recapture of the city, which lies between Mosul and the Syrian border, was hailed as a major victory against the militants, who seized nearly one third of Iraq in a sweeping 2014 offensive.