A suspected drug trafficker blew himself up with a hand grenade during an attempted arrest in Iraq's southern Basra province, killing himself and injuring seven security personnel, Iraqi authorities said.

Iraq's General Directorate for Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances clarified that the incident occurred on October 20th.

According to the directorate, a specialised anti-narcotics unit was attempting to arrest the suspect when he threatened officers with a hand grenade.

One officer tried to prevent the suspect from detonating the explosive, but the man set it off towards the security team, killing himself and injuring seven personnel. The injured security personnel were taken to hospital for treatment. One of them lost a piece of his arm.

Security forces had surrounded the suspect and attempted to persuade him to surrender peacefully before he detonated the grenade.