Updated | Iraq suicide bombing kills 35, scores wounded

At least 35 people were killed and a further 100 were injured when a suicide bomber driving a minibus laden with explosives rammed into a security checkpoint in southern Iraq, police and emergency officials said.

Police said the attacker approached a main checkpoint at a northern entrance to the Shia Muslim-majority city on Sunday, and detonated the minibus.

The blast at the entrance of the Shia city of Hillah set 50 cars ablaze while part of the security complex was destroyed.

No one has yet to claim responsibility for the attack.

The death toll is expected to rise.

Emergency officials were reportedly using cutting equipment to break inside the burnt vehicles and lift out charred bodies.

The Shia Muslim-majority city is located about 95km south of Baghdad.

Two medical officials confirmed the casualty figures. Iraq has seen a spike in violence since last April, with the death toll climbing to its highest levels since the worst of the country's sectarian bloodletting in 2006-2008.

The UN says 8,868 people were killed in 2013, and more than 1,400 people were killed in January and February of this year.