BAGHDAD, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- A total of five people were killed in an overnight attack by militants of the extremist Islamic State (IS) group in Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, a provincial security source and a local official said Sunday.
Late on Saturday night, IS militants detonated a roadside bomb in a village in the northeast of the provincial capital Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad, leaving three killed, Lieutenant Colonel Raad Abbas told Xinhua.
Afterward, a police force arrived at the scene, but the militants opened fire on them and wounded four policemen, including an officer, Abbas said.
Shakir al-Tamimi, mayor of the nearby town of al-Abbara, told Xinhua that the police found in the morning two more wounded villagers by the overnight gunfire in a nearby orchard, but they died before being sent to the hospital, bringing the casualty from the bomb and gunfire attacks to five killed and four wounded.
Iraqi security forces launched a search campaign in the morning in three routes in the agricultural area around the town of al-Abbara to track down IS militants, al-Tamimi said.
Over the past few months, IS militants have intensified attacks on Iraqi security forces in the provinces where the militants previously controlled, leaving dozens dead and wounded.
The security situation in Iraq has been improving since Iraqi forces defeated IS in 2017. However, IS remnants have since melted into urban centers, deserts, and rugged areas, carrying out frequent guerilla attacks against security forces and civilians. Enditem
