Twin Islamic State attacks target security forces in Iraq

Members of the Islamic State attacked an oil police checkpoint and a second location controlled by other Iraqi security forces late Saturday night, both in Iraq’s province of Diyala.

“One member of an oil police unit died and another was injured,” a security source told the Alsumaria news website, adding that the incident occurred in the town of Buhriz, south of Baqouba.

Iraq’s oil police are tasked with protecting oil and gas fields, refineries, and petroleum infrastructure.

At the same time as the other confrontation, militants from the jihadi group also attacked security forces stationed northward in Khanaqeen. Iraqi troops were able to repel the second attack with no reported casualties.

The Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC) has warned in recent months that sleeper cells and other remnants of the terrorist organization were mobilizing to increase activity.

Acts of terrorism involving kidnappings, car bombings, the assassinations of village leaders, and attacks on the local electrical grid remain persistent in Iraq, including in provinces that include territory disputed by Baghdad and the Kurdistan Region, such as Diyala, Kirkuk, and Nineveh.

Source: Kurdistan 24