BAGHDAD, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- At least seven people were killed and some 40 others wounded Tuesday in a car bomb explosion in a town in south of Mosul, the capital of Iraq's northern province of Nineveh, the Iraqi military said.

The blast took place in the morning when a booby-trapped car went off at a popular market in the town of Qayyara, some 50 km south of Mosul, the Iraqi Army Colonel Rayadh al-Juboury in the town told Xinhua.

The huge explosion destroyed several nearby shops and many outdoor stalls, along with damaging nearby civilian cars, Juboury said.

The latest security and medical reports put the death toll of the blast at seven, including two soldiers, while some 40 people were wounded, he added.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Islamic State (IS) militant group, in most cases, has been responsible for such attacks, targeting areas where crowds of people gather, including markets, cafes and mosques across Iraq.

Many of Iraqi cities, including the capital Baghdad, have been witnessing tangible improvement in security after the Iraqi security forces managed to regain control of IS strongholds across the country late in 2017.

However, small groups and individuals of IS militants melted in urban areas or regrouped in deserts and rugged areas in many areas in Iraq looking for safe havens. They are still capable of carrying out attacks from time to time against the security forces and civilians despite operations from time to time to hunt them down.