Displaced Iraqis who had fled their homes lie on the ground inside a tent at Hammam al-Alil camp south of Mosul, Iraq March 29, 2017. (REUTERS Photo)

BAGHDAD, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Up to 13 people were killed and 24 others wounded in a suicide tanker truck bomb attack targeting a police checkpoint in south of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua on Thursday.

The attack took place on Wednesday night when a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden tanker truck into a police checkpoint and detonated it on the main road just south of Baghdad, the source said on condition of anonymity.

The massive blast destroyed the buildings of the checkpoint and set fire to at least 15 nearby vehicles, the source said.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Islamic State (IS) militant group, in most cases, had been behind such suicide deadly attacks targeting crowded markets, cafes and mosques, across Iraq.

The attacks came as the Iraqi security forces backed by anti-IS international coalition are carrying out a major offensive to drive out the IS militants from its last major stronghold in Iraq's northern city of Mosul.