Daesh Bomb Attack near Kirkuk Leaves 12 Iraqi Police Killed, Several Injured

At least a dozen Iraqi police officers were reportedly killed in a roadside bomb attack near the northern city of Kirkuk by Takfiri Daesh (ISIL or ISIS) terrorists.

Iraqi media cited two unknown security sources as saying on Sunday that the fatalities took place after a bomb struck a federal police convoy near the village of Safra in Riyadh district, southwest of Kirkuk, PressTV reported.

“A convoy consisting of several Federal Police patrols was carrying out a duty in the vicinity of agricultural villages east of Riyadh district in Kirkuk," the Iraqi news portal Baghdad al-Yaum quoted the sources as saying.

“During the duty of the security force, it was targeted with a very powerful explosive device, followed by gunfire, which resulted in the deaths of 12 members, including an officer."

The sources said two other policemen were critically wounded in the bomb attack, adding that, "The shooting was carried out by the terrorist group of Daesh, and police officers confronted them, resulting in the death of one terrorist and one of the attackers."

The sources stressed that the Iraqi security forces “launched a wide combing operation" after the attack to purge the area from remnants of the Daesh terrorist group.

Earlier reports by the Iraqi media had put the number of fatalities in the deadly incident at eight.

On Wednesday, a roadside bomb targeted a military vehicle and killed three Iraqi soldiers in farmland north of Baghdad. There was no immediate claim for the bombing attack in the area, which is known as a hotspot of the sleeper cells of Daesh.

Iraq declared victory over Daesh in December 2017 after a three-year counter-terrorism military campaign, which also had the support of neighboring Iran. However, the remnants of the terror outfit, keep staging sporadic attacks across Iraq, attempting to regroup and unleash fresh violence.