Jihadists from the Islamic State group claimed to have carried out an attack in northern Iraq that killed nine police officers, detonated a roadside bomb, and then machine-gunned survivors.
One of the bloodiest attacks in recent months in Iraq took place in the Kirkuk region, according to the police, killing nine federal officers.
In a statement posted on the Telegram messaging service, IS members claimed responsibility for attacking “a police patrol… detonated an explosive device then attacked them with machine guns and hand grenades.”
Under the condition of anonymity, a federal police officer told AFP that the van carrying federal police officers from Iraq was struck by the bomb blast close to the village of Shalal al-Matar.
It was then followed by “a direct attack with small arms”, the officer added.
“An assailant has been killed, and we are looking for the others,” the officer said.
IS jihadists seized large swathes of Iraqi and Syrian territory in 2014, declaring a “caliphate” where they ruled with brutality before their defeat in late 2017 by Iraqi forces backed by a US-led military coalition.
IS lost its last Syrian bastion, near the Iraqi border, in 2019.
