At least five civilians, including three women, have lost their lives and more than a dozen others sustained injuries when a car bomb explosion ripped through the strategic northern Iraqi city of Tikrit.

Police and medical sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said an explosives-laden vehicle went off in front of Fallujah restaurant in Doctors’ Street of the city, located 140 kilometers (87 miles) northwest of the capital Baghdad, on Sunday evening.

Police sources said five people were killed and 16 others injured in the act of terror. The blast set nearly a dozen vehicles on fire as well.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet, but it bears the hallmark of attacks carried out by members of the Daesh Takfiri terror group. 

According to the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), a total of 69 Iraqi civilians lost their lives last month, and 105 others were injured as a result of acts of terrorism and violence across Iraq in October.

The numbers were the lowest monthly casualty figures since UNAMI began publishing them in November 2012.

A large number of the fatalities were recorded in the northern province of Nineveh, where 29 civilians were killed and 36 others wounded.

The capital province of Baghdad saw 29 people killed and another 35 injured. Five people were also killed and 19 others injured in the western province of Anbar.

Former Iraqi prime minister Haider al-Abadi declared the end of military operations against Daesh in the Arab country on December 9, 2017.

On July 10 that year, he formally declared victory over Daesh in Mosul, which served as the terrorists’ main urban stronghold in Iraq.

In the run-up to Mosul's liberation, Iraqi army soldiers and volunteer Hashd al-Sha’abi fighters had made sweeping gains against Daesh.

Iraqi forces took control of eastern Mosul in January 2017 after 100 days of fighting, and launched the battle in the west on February 19 last year.

Daesh began a terror campaign in Iraq in 2014, overrunning vast swathes in lightning attacks.