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BAGHDAD, Iraq – The Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for a suicide car bombing that struck western Iraq on Wednesday and left eight people dead and 12 others injured.

According to local officials, the attacker drove a car that was packed with explosives and rammed it into a checkpoint in Qaim district, which lies 300 kms west of Baghdad.

The Iraqi Military said in a statement, “Security forces in the Qaim district noticed a suspect Kia vehicle and shot at it after it turned out to be rigged and driven by a suicidal terrorist, which led to its explosion and the death of seven people, including four from the security forces and three civilians.”

Qaim Mayor Ahmed al-Mehlawy was quoted as saying in a Reuters report that the checkpoint was being jointly manned by the army and Shi’ite militias at the time of the attack.

While the Iraqi military initially said that seven people were killed in the bombing, the Mayor later confirmed that five militiamen and three civilians were killed in the attack. 

Mehlawy added that some of the 12 people that were injured remain in a critical condition. 

Later in the day, ISIS claimed the attack in a statement issued on its official Amaq news agency and said that the group’s attack had killed 28 people.

Since the collapse of its self-proclaimed caliphate in Iraq earlier last year, after which the country officially declared victory over the Islamic State, the group’s fighters have waged a campaign of kidnappings and killings.

The Qaim security checkpoint that was attacked on Wednesday was reclaimed by the country’s security forces in November last year – a month before Iraq officially declared victory over ISIS.