Ahmad al-Rubaye, AFP file picture | Two men inspect the site of a car bomb that went off in the mostly Shiite Sadr City district of Baghdad on October 13, 2014

An Iraqi MP and prominent militia leader was one of at least 21 people killed Tuesday in a suicide bombing immediately claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group.

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Ahmed al-Khafaji, a commander in the Shiite Badr militia, was among those killed in the attack in the Kadhimiyah area, a fellow lawmaker and a medical official said.

The attack, which wounded at least another 51 people, was the third in the Shiite district of Kadhimiyah in four days.

In a statement posted online, the Islamic State jihadist group said that a suicide bomber it identified as Abu Aisha al-Samarraie had carried out the attack and that Khafaji was the target.

A Shiite MP said that Khafaji was killed in the attack.

"We have confirmed that he was killed, although it is not yet entirely clear whether he was the target of the attack," the MP told AFP.

A hospital source also said Khafaji was among the 21 people killed in the explosion.

Khafaji was a member of the main Shiite bloc in parliament, the State of Law coalition, of which Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi's Dawa party is also part.

But he was best known as a top leader of the Badr organisation, which is one of the main Shiite militias in Iraq and has close ties to Iran.

The death of the Badr commander is the second high-profile killing in three days by the Islamic State group, which also claimed the attack that killed the police chief of Anbar province on Sunday.

(AFP)

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