Islamic State attack on Real Madrid fan club near Baghdad kills 16

Shi'ite fighters are seen at a cafe where men, including fans of Spain's Real Madrid football club, had gathered, after an attack by gunmen in the predominately Shi'ite Muslim town of Balad, Iraq, May 13, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

TIKRIT, Iraq - Shooting and bomb attacks claimed by Islamic State killed at least 16 people north of Baghdad on Friday, days after Islamic State's deadliest blasts so far this year in the capital stirred public criticism of government security measures.

Three gunmen opened fire with machine guns around midnight at a cafe in the predominately Shi'ite Muslim town of Balad where young men, including fans of Spain's Real Madrid football club, had gathered to start the weekend, police and hospital sources. At least 12 were killed and 25 wounded.

The assailants fled and hours later one of them set off his explosive vest at a nearby vegetable market after police and Shi'ite militia members cornered him in a disused building and exchanged gunfire, security sources said. Four were killed and two critically wounded, medical sources added.

Islamic State said in a statement distributed online by supporters that three suicide attackers targeting Shi'ite militiamen had detonated their explosives, though security sources said they had only identified one bomber.

A Reuters witness saw the scorched body of a suspected assailant hanging upside down from a post outside the cafe on Friday morning.

Residents said they had seized the man from a nearby house where he had fled following the attack. They said they had burned him alive after he confessed. An intelligence official confirmed this account.

Islamic State nearly overran Balad, 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, in 2014 and maintains a frontline around 40 km away.

Friday's attackers had passed three police checkpoints before reaching their target, said police sources. Security forces deployed throughout the town, fearing more attacks.