At least eight Iraqi policemen were killed Sunday in a possible attack by the Islamic State jihadist organization in the south of Kirkuk province, which was subsequently responded to by a security operation that has so far resulted in the killing of a suspected militiaman.
The eight members of the Iraqi Federal Police were hit by a homemade bomb planted by suspected jihadists in the town of Safra, security forces in the nearby town of Hawiya told the Kurdish-Iraqi agency Rudaw.
The bomb exploded as their convoy passed through this northern province of the country, the scene of some of the deadliest attacks by jihadist cells that remain scattered across Iraq following their territorial defeat in December 2017.
Two other police officers are wounded and their condition is critical. Sources of the Kurdish-Iraqi channel Kurdistan24 put the number of dead at nine, but there is still no official confirmation of this balance.
Shortly after the start of the search operation, the security forces located part of the attackers and managed to kill one of their members, security sources told Shafaq News.
The operation is underway to locate and apprehend the remaining members of the group, according to the same source.
The attack has already been claimed by the jihadist organization in a message published on Telegram in which they explain that their militiamen «attacked a police patrol (…) detonating an explosive device and then attacked the agents with machine guns and grenades».
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
