A man inspects the site of a suicide car bombing on a highway near oilfields in southern Basra, Iraq, May 20, 2017. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

BAGHDAD, May 30 (Xinhua) -- The Islamic State (IS) group on Tuesday claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack at busy commercial area in Iraqi capital of Baghdad that killed 11 people and wounded 75 others, the group said in an online statement.

"One of the extremist group's members carried out a suicide car bomb attack at a gathering of Shiite people," the group said in a brief statement, which its authenticity could not be independently verified.

The attack occurred around midnight on Monday when a suicide car bomber detonated an explosive-laden car outside an ice cream parlor in the predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Karrada in southern central Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Two policemen were among the killed and many women and children were among the killed and wounded, the source said.

The powerful blast destroyed eight nearby vehicles, including two police vehicles, and caused damage to many nearby shops and buildings, according the source.

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 their major stronghold in the western side of Mosul in northern Iraq.

Terrorist acts, violence and armed conflicts killed 309 civilians and wounded 387 others in April across Iraq, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq said earlier in the month.

Many blame the current chronic instability, cycle of violence, and the emergence of extremist groups, such as the IS, on the U.S. that invaded and occupied Iraq in March 2003.