IS jihadists attack and kill 13 Iraqi police: security, medical personnel

Earlier on Sunday, the Islamic State group attacked a checkpoint in northern Iraq, killing 13 Iraqi policemen.

• The attack by the Islamic State resulted in the deaths of 13 Iraqi police officers.
• The attack occurred at a checkpoint in the Rashad area.
• An official said that IS was targeting federal police checkpoints.

Security and medical sources said that early Sunday, the Islamic State group attacked a checkpoint in northern Iraq, killing 13 Iraqi policemen.

A senior Iraqi police officer told AFP that the attack occurred in the Rashad area, about 65 kilometers south of Kirkuk, just after midnight.

“Members of the Islamic State group targeted a federal police checkpoint,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

The official added that “thirteen people were killed and three injured” in the security forces.

A medical source in Kirkuk confirmed the death toll.

Did not immediately ask for responsibility.

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IS occupied a large area of ​​Iraq in a lightning offensive in 2014 and was then repelled by a counter-insurgency movement supported by a military alliance led by the United States.

The Iraqi government announced that Sunni extremists had been defeated at the end of 2017, but they kept their sleeper berths and continued to attack security forces with asymmetrical attacks.

Jihadist groups often target Iraqi troops and police in northern Iraq, but this attack is one of the deadliest attacks this year.

On July 19, the Islamic State claimed that an explosion occurred in the Al-Wheilat market in Sadr, a Shiite suburb of Baghdad, killing 30 people.

The current number of international coalition forces in Iraq is about 3,500, of which 2,500 are US troops.

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However, due to attacks on facilities used by armed groups allied with Iran, Washington has been reducing its military presence and said that starting next year, the role of the US military will be limited to training and providing advice to its counterparts in Iraq.

Last Sunday, French President Emmanuel Macron visited Iraqi Kurdistan and expressed concern about the “return of the Islamic State” in Iraq and Syria.

He also stated that “no matter what choice the Americans make,” the French soldiers deployed in Iraq as part of the League of Nations will stay in the country.