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12 Iraqi police killed, several injured in bomb attack by Daesh near Kirkuk: Media

Sunday, 18 December 2022 10:44 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 18 December 2022 11:07 AM ]

The file photo by the news portal Baghdad al-Yaum shows an Iraqi military convoy in an undisclosed location in Iraq.

At least a dozen Iraqi police forces have reportedly been killed in a roadside bomb attack by remnants of the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group near the northern city of Kirkuk.

Iraqi media cited two unknown security sources as saying on Sunday that the fatalities took place after a bomb struck a federal police convoy near the village of Safra in Riyadh district, southwest of Kirkuk.

“A convoy consisting of several Federal Police patrols was carrying out a duty in the vicinity of agricultural villages east of Riyadh district in Kirkuk," the Iraqi news portal Baghdad al-Yaum quoted the sources as saying.

“During the duty of the security force, it was targeted with a very powerful explosive device, followed by gunfire, which resulted in the death of 12 members, including an officer."

The sources said two other policemen were critically wounded in the bomb attack, adding that, "The shooting was carried out by the terrorist group of Daesh, and police officers confronted them, resulting in the death of one terrorist and one of the attackers."

The sources stressed that the Iraqi security forces “launched a wide combing operation" after the attack to purge the area from remnants of the Daesh terrorist group.

Earlier reports by the Iraqi media had put the number of fatalities in the deadly incident at eight.

New videos appear to show US choppers transferring Daesh terrorists in Iraq

On Wednesday, a roadside bomb targeted a military vehicle and killed three Iraqi soldiers in farmland north of Baghdad. There was no immediate claim for the bombing attack in the area, which is a known as a hotspot of the sleeper cells of Daesh.

Iraq declared victory over Daesh in December 2017 after a three-year counter-terrorism military campaign, which also had the support of neighboring Iran.

The terror outfit’s remnants, though, keep staging sporadic attacks across Iraq, attempting to regroup and unleash fresh violence.

Daesh has intensified its terrorist attacks in Iraq since January 2020, when the United States assassinated top Iranian anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani and Hashd al-Sha'abi deputy commander, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, near Baghdad International Airport.

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