Ten Iraqi policemen were killed in an Islamic State group attack against a checkpoint in the country’s north early Sunday, security and medical sources said.
The attack, in the region of Al-Rashad around 65 kilometres (40 miles) south of Kirkuk city, took place just after midnight, a senior Iraqi police officer told AFP.
“Members of the Islamic State organisation targeted a federal police checkpoint,” said the officer, who did not want to be named.
“Ten were killed and three wounded” among the security forces, the officer added.
A medical source based in Kirkuk confirmed the toll.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
IS seized swathes of Iraq in a lightning offensive in 2014, before being beaten back by a counter-insurgency campaign supported by a US-led military coalition.
The Iraqi government declared the Sunni extremists defeated in late 2017, but they retain sleeper cells which continue to hit security forces with asymmetric attacks.
News Source: Reuters
