Isis kills 11 in attack on Baghdad gas plant

At least 11 people were killed and a further dozen were injured after Islamic State militants launched a suicide attack on a state-run gas plant near the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

During the assault, which extremist militant group Isis said it had carried out, a suicide car bomb blew up at the entrance to the facility approximately 20km north of Baghdad. The explosion allowed another vehicle carrying at least six attackers with explosive vests to enter and clash with security forces, Reuters said.

Three gas storage tanks were set on fire during the fighting while flames and smoke could be seen billowing from the facility.

The militant group said in an online statement that four fighters with machine guns had killed the guards at the plant which it said the Iraqi army was using as a headquarters.

When reinforcements arrived, they set off a parked car bomb before clashing with the security forces and detonating their suicide vests.

A spokesman for Baghdad Operations Command said three of the facility's gas storages were set alight before security forces were able to bring the situation under control.

More than 100 people have been killed in terrorist attacks over the last week, mostly in a car bomb blast that claimed the lives of 93 people in a market in the Shia Muslim area of Baghdad. Shia Muslims are considered apostates by extremist Sunni groups, like Isis.

The market attack was followed by two car bombs at checkpoints and then a few hours later by a twin suicide bombing attack on a police station.

Isis has not only focused on Baghdad, with militants attacking a cafe in the northern city of Balad on Thursday. 13 Real Madrid fans who were watching a football game at the time were killed.

The attacks come amid a political crisis in the country over changes to the way the government operates.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Saturday the militants were taking advantage of a political crisis in the country, sparked by his attempt to overhaul its quota-based governing system, to conduct bombings in areas under nominal government control.

A U.S.-led coalition backing the Iraqi government in its fight against Islamic State has been training army forces for months at a military base located in Taji.

Separate explosions in Baghdad's southern outskirts on Sunday left three people dead and 12 wounded, police sources said.