BAGHDAD, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- Up to two people were killed and 25 injured Friday in a car bomb explosion in the town of al-Qaim near the border with Syria, official and security sources said.
"The final casualties from the car bomb explosion at a marketplace in al-Qaim town is two civilians killed and 20 others wounded, along with five policemen," said Nadhim al-Dulaimi, head of al-Qaim town council, told Xinhua.
"15 of the wounded have left the town's hospital after they received treatment from different wounds they sustained by the blast," al-Dulaimi said.
Moreover, the huge blast badly damaged some 20 shops, two nearby buildings and seven civilian cars, he said.
Sayf al-Badr, spokesman of the Iraqi Health Ministry, confirmed to local Iraqi media that the toll of the car bombing in al-Qaim was two killed and 25 wounded.
Earlier, a local police source put the toll of the blast at one civilian killed and seven others wounded, citing initial reports.
The incident took place in the morning when a booby-trapped car ripped through a popular market in al-Qaim, some 400 km west of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
The security situation in Iraq has been dramatically improved after Iraqi security forces declared full liberation of Iraq from IS militants after Iraqi forces seized the whole border areas with Syria and nearby desert in western Iraq.
However, small groups or individuals of Islamic State (IS) militants are still trying to infiltrate into Iraq from neighboring Syria through the roughly 600 km long border with Iraq with vast rugged areas and desert land.
