The attack took place on Sunday near the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, about 293 kilometers (182 miles) from the capital Baghdad. No group has said they were behind the killings, but officials have blamed IS groups. A roadside bomb killed three of his Iraqi soldiers near Baghdad on Wednesday. IS said it planted a bomb. Sunday’s attack began with a bomb detonation targeting a truck carrying police officers near the village of Chalal al-Matar, an official told AFP. The explosion was followed by a “direct attack with small arms”. “One attacker has died and we are looking for the rest,” the officer added, adding that two officers were also injured in the attack. An interior ministry official in Baghdad confirmed the attack.
ISIS once held its 88,000-square-kilometer (34,000-square-mile) territory stretching from eastern Iraq to western Syria, imposing brutal control over nearly eight million people. But Iraqi forces declared victory over the Islamist group in December 2017 after driving IS fighters from the Syrian border, where the Islamists’ last stronghold was. The group was expelled from its last territory in 2019, but the United Nations warned in July that it remained a lingering threat.
There are an estimated 6,000 to 10,000 militants in Syria and Iraq, most of whom are based in rural areas and continue to carry out hit-and-run attacks, ambushes, and roadside bombings. In its report, the United Nations said that despite the “significant loss of leadership,” the group “used security vulnerabilities and conditions that facilitate the spread of terrorism to recruit, organize and carry out complex attacks.” It was pointed out that it was possible to “misuse the
