Twenty seven people were killed in Iraq on Thursday when mortars landed in the provincial capital of Baquba, police and medics said.

It was not clear who fired the mortars at the northern town.

Iraq is facing a multitude of security challenges, including ultra-hardline Sunni Islamic State militants who control a third of the country and have fueled sectarian tensions.

(Reporting by Baghdad bureau; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Toby Chopra)

REUTERS