Seven police officers killed in northern Iraq

• At least seven police officers has been killed in A bomb and gun attack.
• The attack happened near the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.
• A roadside bomb near Baghdad killed three Iraqi soldiers on Wednesday.

A bomb and gun attack in northern Iraq has killed at least seven police officers.

On Sunday, the attack happened near the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, which is about 293 km (182 miles) from Baghdad, the country’s capital.

No group has said it was responsible for the killings, but officials have pointed the finger at the Islamic State group.

Wednesday, a roadside bomb near Baghdad killed three Iraqi soldiers. IS said that it put the bomb there.

Officials told AFP that the attack on Sunday began when a bomb went off near the village of Chalal al-Matar and hit a police truck.

After the blast, “a direct attack with small arms” took place.

“We are looking for the other attackers, and one of them has been killed,” the official said, adding that two police officers were also hurt in the attack.

A representative from Baghdad’s Ministry of the Interior confirmed the attack.

IS once ruled over almost eight million people in a territory that was 88,000 sq km (34,000 sq miles) and stretched from eastern Iraq to western Syria.

But in December 2017, Iraqi forces declared victory over the Islamist group after driving IS militants out of their last strongholds near the Syrian border.

The group lost its last piece of land in 2019, but the UN said in July that it was still a threat.

It is thought to have between 6,000 and 10,000 fighters in Syria and Iraq. Most of them live in rural areas and continue to do hit-and-run attacks, ambushes, and bombs on the side of the road.

In its report, the UN said that despite “significant leadership losses,” the group has been able to “exploit security gaps and conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism to recruit, plan, and carry out complex attacks.”

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