12 Iraqi policemen are killed in an attack attributed to Daesh

At least 12 policemen were killed last night in an attack attributed to Daesh in northern Iraq in which seven other officers were wounded, Iraqi police sources said Sunday.

"Islamic State fighters last night attacked a Federal Police checkpoint in the area of Al-Rashad," some 65 kilometres north of Kirkuk, capital of the province of the same name, killing two officers and wounding a third, Captain Ali al-Murshidi of the police in the northern Iraqi province told EFE news agency.

A police force went to the scene of the attack, where three explosive devices detonated, killing ten other officers and injuring six others, as well as damaging three police vehicles, he said.

Al-Murshidi said the police sent additional reinforcements to the scene of the clashes, which led to the escape of the perpetrators of the attack, and said the situation was now under control, although he did not say whether there had been any casualties among the attackers.

Commander Ihsan al-Saadi of the police in the city of Baquba, capital of Diyala province (east), told EFE news agency that five people, including two policemen, were wounded by machine gun fire and the explosion of two devices in the area of Al-Abara, 14 kilometres northeast of Baquba. The official also attributed the attack to Daesh.

Although the jihadist organisation was territorially defeated in 2017 after controlling large parts of Iraq, its remnants still continue to carry out attacks, mostly against Iraqi security forces and particularly on the border with Syria and in the north and centre of the country.

According to a report by the Center for Global Policy, an estimated 4,000 terrorists remain active and another 8,000 in sleeper cells.