Suicide bomb instructor accidentally blows up class

A suicide bombing instructor at a terrorist training camp in Iraq blew up himself and several militants when he unwittingly used live explosives during a demonstration.

The teacher, a commander of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, killed himself and 21 other members of the terror group in the Monday-morning blast, reports the New York Times.

The group was filming the propaganda video of a would-be suicide attacker when a technical glitch set off the car bomb, according to army officials.

Everydays Iraqis greeted the news with black humour.

"This is so funny ... It shows how stupid they are, those dogs and sons of dogs," said Raad Hashim, a man who works at a liquor store near the site of the attack north of Baghdad.

He said the accident was "God sending a message to the bad people and the criminals in the world, to tell them to stop the injustice and to bring peace."

The incident comes amid the worst protracted period of bloodshed in Iraq in nearly six years.

More than 1000 people were killed in January, the highest such figure since 2008, according to government data.