Baghdad: A total of seven security men were killed on Saturday in an attack by gunmen, believed to be militants of the extremist Islamic State (IS) group, in the province of Salahudin, a provincial police source said.
The attack took place in the evening when a joint force of Iraqi police and government-backed Sunni paramilitary fighters of a group known as Sahwa, or Awakening Council, spotted a roadside bomb and tried to defuse it near al-Zuyiah village, some 200 km north of Baghdad, Colonel Mohammed al-Bazi told Xinhua.
The force received heavy arms fire from nearby Makhoul mountain, sparking a fierce clash with the gunmen, which resulted in the killing of a police officer, two policemen, and four paramilitary fighters, al-Bazi said.
Two policemen were also wounded by the attack of the gunmen who fled the scene and disappeared into the mountainous area, al-Bazi added.
The attack came as the extremist IS militants have intensified their attacks on the security forces and civilians in the formerly IS-controlled Sunni provinces, resulting in the killing and wounding of dozens.