'Terrorist attack' kills two people in Iraq's Tikrit

A car bomb killed two people and injured six others in the Iraqi city of Tikrit on Tuesday, the military confirmed.

2 min read

08 January, 2019

Local sources two police officers were killed in the attack [Getty]

Two people and six others were injured when a car bomb exploded in the Iraqi city of Tikrit on Tuesday, the military said.

The “terrorist attack” took place at a checkpoint at the northern entrance to Tikrit, 150 km (95 miles) north of Baghdad.

Local police sources confirmed the victims as two police officers, although a military statement identified them as civilians.

Two soldiers, a police officer and three civilians were among the injured, the police source said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Tikrit spent nearly 10 months under Islamic State group rule before Iraqi security forces retook it in the spring of 2015.

Late last year, Iraq announced it had successfully ousted IS from the group's urban strongholds across the country.

But militant cells still wage hit-and-run attacks. This month alone, a deadly string of attacks hit the capital and a car bomb exploded in IS' one-time capital Mosul, killing three.
Tikrit was the birthplace of former Iraq dictator Saddam Hussein with many leading military and political figures coming from the city.

During the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, Tikrit was part of the so-called Triangle of Death - or Sunni Triangle - and a flashpoint for violence against international and government forces.

Agencies contributed to this report.

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