Iraq sacks security chiefs as new attack kills 40

The Iraqi premier sacked three Baghdad security chiefs following a devastating bombing in the capital, his office said on Friday, hours after another attack to the north left 40 dead.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's office also confirmed that he had accepted the interior minister's resignation, which was submitted following the Sunday bombing in Baghdad that killed more than 300 people.

The Islamic State jihadist group said it carried out the latest attack -- on a Shia shrine in the town of Balad that began Thursday evening -- as well as the Baghdad blast in Baghdad.

In what was one of the deadliest attacks ever to hit Iraq, a suicide bomber blew up a minibus packed with explosives in a Baghdad shopping district teeming with people ahead of the Eid al-Fitr holiday, sparking widespread anger against the government.

Abadi issued "an order to relieve the Baghdad Operations commander of his position," as well as remove the officials responsible for intelligence and security in the capital, his office said.

Abadi also accepted Interior Minister Mohammed Ghabban's resignation on Tuesday, the same day it was submitted, his office said.

In Thursday evening's attack, militants targeted the Sayyid Mohammed shrine in Balad, 70 kilometres (45 miles) north of Baghdad, Joint Operations Command spokesman Yahya Rasool told AFP.

It killed 40 people and wounded 74, health ministry spokesman Ahmed al-Rudaini said.

The shrine was attacked with mortar fire, then by suicide bombers wearing security force uniforms, Rasool said.

In Syria, more than 60 civilians were killed by shelling and air strikes in the northwest of Syria on Friday, a monitoring group said, hours before the end of a shaky ceasefire for the Eid al-Fitr holiday.

Fighting has continued since the truce was announced on Wednesday, particularly in and around Syria's second city of Aleppo, with deaths on both sides of the divided city.

Thirty-four civilians, including four children, were killed and 200 others wounded by rebel shelling in regime-held areas, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

State news agency SANA gave a lower toll of 23 dead and 140 wounded, accusing the rebels of violating the ceasefire.

Aleppo -- Syria's pre-war commercial capital -- has been divided between the pro-regime west and the rebel-held east since mid-2012.