Suicide car bombers carried out a deadly strike on a school and a police station near Tel Afar, a small town in northeastern Iraq, Sunday. At least 12 students and their principal died in the attack on an elementary school, according to reports.

Part of the school building is believed to have collapsed as a result of the blast. The suicide bombing at the town's police station reportedly did not cause further casualties.

"We were exposed to two big explosions today in which dozens were killed or injured. The first was a truck bomb targeting a police station and the second was detonated inside the primary school," Tel Afar's mayor, Abdul Al Abbas, tells Reuters.

"The majority of Tel Afar's residents are from Iraq's Shi'ite Turkman minority, which in recent years has been the target of killings and kidnappings," the news outlet says.

The violence comes a day after attacks claimed the lives of at least 73 people, including a bombing on Shiite pilgrims north of Baghdad that was blamed for 51 deaths, according to the AP.

That pilgrimage was the target of another attack on Sunday, as a bomber targeted "Shiite pilgrims making their way to a golden-domed shrine in northern Baghdad where two revered Shiite saints are buried," the AP says. At least a dozen people reportedly died in today's blast.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.