SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Islamic State (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the killing of at least nine Iraqi federal officers on Sunday in a bomb attack on their convoy near the oil city of Kirkuk, the militant group said on its Telegram channel.
The blast occurred near the village of Safra, some 30 km (20 miles) southwest of Kirkuk in the Kurdistan region, two security sources said, adding that two other policemen were critically wounded, according to Reuters.
ISIS seized control of swathes of Iraqi territory in 2014. The group was declared territorially defeated in 2017 but some of its members still roam and continue to destabilize the country’s security.
The group’s remnants are particularly active in the so-known disputed areas between the Kurdish and Iraqi governments, stretching across several provinces including Kirkuk, Salahaddin, and Diyala.
Last Wednesday, a roadside explosion claimed by ISIS hit a patrol of the Iraqi army in Al-Tarmiya district, north of Baghdad, leaving three dead.
