DHAKA: Suicide bombers using explosives-laden ambulances have killed at least 21 people in two Iraqi cities.

The attacks happened in Tikrit and Samarra, where Shia pilgrims, some of them Iranian, were targeted, reports BBC.

The deadly blasts come as government forces continue their offensive to take back the northern city of Mosul from Islamic State (IS).

They are facing fierce resistance as they push through the city's eastern and southern suburbs.

Satellite images have revealed multiple concrete barricades placed by IS fighters across key routes into the city.

The deadliest of Sunday’s blasts happened in the city of Tikrit, some 200km (123 miles) south of Mosul.

A suicide bomber drove a booby-trapped ambulance into a line of vehicles queuing at a checkpoint at the southern entrance to the city, once the hometown of executed former leader Saddam Hussein.

In Samarra, further south, another ambulance was detonated in a car park for Shia pilgrims attending the al-Askari mosque. Iranians were among the dead.

No group has claimed the attacks.

But it is likely to be the work of IS, seeking to divert attention from the offensive in Mosul, says the BBC's Middle East analyst Alan Johnston.

BDST: 1902 HRS, NOV 06, 2016
AP/BD