The attack occurred in the morning when a suicide bomber drove his explosive-laden tanker truck into the outer checkpoint of a military base in north of the city of Samarra, some 120 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
The powerful blast left eight people killed, including the bomber, and some 28 militiamen and soldiers wounded, the source said, citing initial reports.
Large parts of Salahudin province have been under ISIL control since June 11, a day after bloody clashes broke out between Iraqi security forces and the ISIL group, which took control of the country's northern city of Mosul and later seized swathes of territories in Nineveh and other provinces.