Iraqi security forces gather at the site of a suicide truck bomb attack, at a petrol station in the city of Hilla south of Baghdad, Iraq, November 24, 2016.[Photo/Agencies]

For its part, Iran condemned the terrorist attack and confirmed the death of 24 Iranian pilgrims, according to official IRNA news agency.

"It is an indication of frustration," IRNA quoted Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi as saying.

The terrorists launched such attacks to compensate for the repeated defeats they have suffered recently, Qasemi said.

"Such brutal and inhuman acts are not going to affect the determination of the Iraqi people and its government; neither could they disrupt the Islamic republic's joint fight with Iraq against terrorism," he said.

Later in the day, the Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that an Iraqi suicide bomber, named Abu Fahad, struck buses carrying Shiite pilgrims, including Iranians, at the Shomali fuel station and the nearby Anwar Babil restaurant near the highway, according to an online statement, of which the authenticity could not be independently verified.

The Iraqi President Fuad Masoum strongly condemned the attack that killed many civilians, most of who were women and elderly.

Masoum expressed his "deep sadness to the death and wound of Iraqi people, Iranian, Pakistan and Muslim pilgrims from other countries."