Twelve security casualties in Islamic State attack in Salahuddin

Twelve joint security forces members were either killed or wounded on Friday when Islamic State militants attacked a police unit in al-Dour, east of Salahuddin’s city of Tikrit.
A security source told AlMada Press that some of the attackers, including two suicide bombers, were killed, adding that security forces imposed a curfew in the area.

The attack comes a few days after Islamic State suicide bombers killed five policemen in the province’s city of Samarra on Monday. Also on the same day, five tribal fighters and at least 40 IS militants were reported killed after an attack on another security unit in the town of Shirqat.

Observers believe Islamic State attacks outside Mosul, where the group has been sustaining daily losses since October, are designed to distract security forces focus on the city and to take away attention from the group’s defeats there.

Iraqi government forces, backed by tribal militias and forces from a US-led international coalition, have been carrying out a major campaign to retake Iraqi cities from IS fighters, most notably the city of Mosul. Another campaign was launched Thursday to clear areas at the west of Anbar, near the borders with Syria.

Source: /Iraqi News