Two policemen killed in IS attack in north Iraq

An Islamic State group militant attack on a police headquarters in Kirkuk has killed at least two officers and injured five others, according to reports.

MENA

1 min read

The New Arab Staff

06 October, 2020

IS was defeated in 2019 [Getty]

Two Iraqi policemen were killed and five others wounded in an attack by Islamic State group militants in the north of the country, a military source said.

The federal police were attacked at a security headquarters in Kirkuk, army officer, Hamdan Obeidi said, according to Arabi21.

“On Monday evening, IS militants launched an attack with light weapons (machine guns) on a headquarters of the Federal Police in Hawija district, south of Kirkuk," Obeidi said, confirming the death toll.

IS militants declared a "caliphate" in large swathes of Syria and neighbouring Iraq in 2014, implementing their brutal interpretation of religion on millions under their rule.

The militant group controlled territory equivalent to the size of the UK until a US-backed assault by the Iraqi military, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and other groups saw the last IS outpost in eastern Syria fall last year.

US special forces in October killed the group's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi inside Syria, dealing a blow to the militants.

Despite this, analysts believe the militant organisation is taking advantage of the coronavirus outbreak, coalition troop withdrawals and political stagnation in Baghdad to ramp up its activities.

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