BAGHDAD, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- Seven people were killed and 30 others wounded Wednesday in a car bomb explosion on a main road in Iraq's central province of Salahudin, a provincial police source said.

The blast occurred around noon when a booby-trapped car parked in front of a restaurant, where passengers used to have a rest while travelling on the main road in north of the provincial capital city of Tikrit, some 170 km north of Baghdad, Mohammed al-Bazi told Xinhua.

The huge blast set seven nearby civilian cars ablaze and badly damaged the others, as well as destroying large part of the restaurant, Bazi said.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Islamic State (IS) militant group, in most cases, has been responsible for such attacks, targeting areas where crowds of people gather, including markets, cafes and mosques across Iraq, said Bazi.

Many of Iraqi cities, including the capital Baghdad, have been witnessing tangible improvement in security after the Iraqi security forces managed to regain control of IS strongholds across the country late in 2017.

However, small groups and individuals of IS militants melted in urban areas or regrouped in deserts and rugged areas in many areas in Iraq looking for safe havens.

They are still capable of carrying out attacks from time to time against the security forces and civilians despite operations to hunt them down.