A suicide bomber detonated his explosives at a checkpoint in the Diyala Governorate of northeast Iraq on Monday, killing at least 20 people as a result the blast.

Dozens of people have been taken to the nearest hospital to be treated for the wounds they sustained from the deadly blast this morning.

A Security sources on condition of anonymity said the bomb attack took place in the town of al-Khalis, located roughly 9 miles northwest of the provincial capital city of Baqubah, on Monday morning.

Yesterday a suicide bomber attacked a security check point in northern Baghdad, killing at least 14 people, Iraqi officials said.

The bomber, who was on foot, detonated his device at one of the busy entrances of the Shiite district of Kadhimiyah, killing at least 10 civilians and four policemen, a police officer said. At least 31 other people were wounded, he added.

Three more civilians were killed and 11 wounded in a bomb explosion in an outdoor market in Baghdad's western suburb of Abu Ghraib, another police officer said.

Two medical officials confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release information.

Earlier on Saturday Iraqi Defense Ministry announced the assistant of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed and a number of his associates were injured during an operation carried out by forces of Tigris Operations towards the north of Diyala province .

The Defense Ministry, in a statement, said, “The members of the first regiment of Tigris Operations gunned Hashim Nassif Jassem al-Hayali, the assistant of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, apart from injuring a number of his aides at Mukhisa, towards the north of Diyala. ”

“The operation was based on accurate intelligence,” the statement added.