Three members of the Iraqi security forces were killed and three others injured on Sunday by an explosive device in the northern Iraqi province of Salaheddine, a local official and a security source told AFP.
Iraq declared its “victory” against the Islamic State (IS) group at the end of 2017, but jihadist cells remain active in the country and continue to sporadically attack the army and police, particularly in rural and remote areas.
The commander of an army regiment, another officer and a member of the security services were killed in the explosion of the device, which occurred in the district of Touz-Khourmatou which borders the province of Kirkuk, scene of sporadic jihadist attacks, Zulfiqar al-Bayati, the mayor of Touz-Khourmatou, told AFP.
A security source confirmed the death toll to AFP, specifying that the victims were in a vehicle at the time of the explosion which was not immediately claimed.
Those killed were members of the Peshmerga, the military forces of autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan, while the injured belonged to the Iraqi army, she said.
The Iraqi Ministry of Defense paid tribute to the three soldiers “who fell as martyrs (…) while they were carrying out their duty”.
After its meteoric rise to power in 2014 and the conquest of vast territories in Iraq and Syria, ISIS saw its self-proclaimed “caliphate” collapse less than three years later under the influence of successive offensives in these two countries. .
According to a UN expert report on ISIS, published in July, the current number of jihadists in Iraq and Syria is “in the order of 1,500 to 3,000 fighters”.
In Iraq, IS “activities” remain “largely contained”, the report underlines, while specifying that the group “remains capable of carrying out sporadic and impactful attacks”.
