Two policemen wounded as bomb attack targets police vehicle in Kirkuk

Security men stand near a site of a car bomb blast in Baghdad

Kirkuk (Iraqinews.com) – Two security men were seriously wounded in a bomb attack that targeted their police vehicle in one of Kirkuk villages on Saturday night, a security source was quoted as saying.

Speaking to Shafaq News website, the source said, “A bomb exploded on Saturday night while a police vehicle was passing by Tal Khadija village in Kirkuk’s al-Rashad district, leaving two policemen seriously wounded.”

“The two security men were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment,” the source pointed out.

Iraqi forces took over Kirkuk in mid October in response to a referendum Kurdistan Region held in September for independence from Iraq. Kirkuk is one of the areas where Baghdad and Erbil dispute sovereignty.

Last week, six Islamic State militants were killed in a security campaign in Hawija city, west of Kirkuk. The city was recaptured from Islamic State last year.

In December, Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi announced full liberation of Iraqi lands, declaring end of war against IS members.

Iraqi forces, backed by a U.S.-led coalition and paramilitary troops, have been fighting since October 2016 to retake territories Islamic State had occupied. Since then, forces took back the group’s former capital, Mosul, the town of Tal Afar, Kirkuk’s Hawija, and Anbar’s Annah, Rawa and Qaim.

The war against IS has so far displaced at least five million people. Thousands of others fled toward neighboring countries including Syria, Turkey and other European countries, since IS emerged to proclaim its self-styled “caliphate”.

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