SULAIMANI (ESTA) — As many as 13 Iraqi policemen were killed in two separate attacks in southwest of Kirkuk early on Sunday, Esta Media Network reporter said.
The reporter in Kirkuk said Islamic State (ISIS) militants attacked a military point belonging to the Iraqi federal police in Tal Steeh village in Rashad sub-district in the early hours on Sunday.
Two police officers were killed in the attack, he added.
Meanwhile, blasts hit a convoy of another unit of the Iraqi federal police who went to the area to defend and respond to the ISIS attack in Tal Steeh.
At least 11 other police officers were killed and six others were wounded in the blasts, the reporter noted.
A military hummer was also burned down, he said.
National Iraqi news agency NINA reported that eight Iraqi policemen were killed and five others were injured in the attacks.
Separately in Yingja sub-district on Kirkuk-Tikrit road, ISIS militants attacked a unit of Hashid al-Shaabi, wounding one Hashid fighter.
The Islamic State remnants have increased attacks against civilians and Iraqi forces in the disputed territories, claimed by both Erbil and Baghdad.
In 2017 Baghdad announced victory over the militant group, and attacks in Iraqi cities have since become much rarer, although troops continue to fight ISIS sleeper cells in mountainous and desert areas.
The militants still mount deadly operations, mostly at night and in remote areas.
*This story was updated at 09:49 a.m. EBL time
