Incredible moment car driven by IS 'suicide bomber' explodes after being hurled hundreds of feet into sky

 
Mid-air blast: the car explodes into a ball of flames above northern Iraq (Picture: YouTube)
Robin de Peyer14 April 2015

This is the extraordinary moment a car reportedly driven by an Islamic State suicide bomber blows up after being thrown hundreds of feet into the air.

Footage shows the car being blown hundreds of feet skywards apparently after hitting a roadside bomb during an IS attack on Kurdish Peshmerga forces.

As it flips through the air leaving a trail of black smoke, the car the explodes into a huge ball of flames.

The second explosion is said to have been caused by the driver of the car detonating his bomb in midair, reportedly above Kirkuk in northern Iraq.

What is left of the car then plummets back down to the ground amid huge clouds of black smoke.

The footage surfaced hours before at least 11 civilians have been killed in two car bomb attacks in and around Baghdad.

[Warning: some readers may find the footage distressing]

Seven people were killed when an explosives-laden car was detonated in a commercial area in the town of Mahmoudiyah, about 20 miles south of Baghdad, a police officer said.

Another 13 civilians were wounded in the attack, he said.

Hours later, another car bomb exploded in a car park outside Yarmouk hospital in western Baghdad, killing four civilians and injuring 10 others, the official said.

Two medical officials confirmed the casualty figures.

The bombings came a day after attacks in and around Baghdad killed at least 15 civilians.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombings but the Islamic State group and other Sunni extremists carry out near-daily attacks targeting Iraq's security forces and Shiite majority.

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