A woman suicide bomber has killed at least 31 people and wounded 35 in a crowded market in the town of Musayab, 80 kilometers south of Baghdad, security sources say.
The Islamic State group claimed the attack, 30 kilometers east of the Shi'ite holy city of Karbala, as well as a suicide attack at a bus station in central Karbala around the same time. It did not identify either bomber, in a statement on its Amaq news agency.
Security sources said four people were wounded in the Karbala bombing. One security officer said the bomber was also a woman and had hidden the bomb under her full-body veil.
IS fighters are on the brink of losing Mosul, their stronghold in Iraq, to a U.S.-backed Iraqi offensive launched in October.
The group is also losing ground in neighboring Syria, retreating in the face of a U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led military coalition attacking Raqqa, its de facto capital.
Iranian-backed paramilitaries are taking part in the campaign against Islamic State in Iraq, attacking the group in the border region near Syria.