Car-bomb rattles Iraq’s Kirkuk, kills police officer

By Hussein al-Amir

BAGHDAD (AA) – An Iraqi police officer was killed and three others injured in a suicide car-bomb attack in Iraq’s northern Kirkuk province on Wednesday, according to a police source.

“The attacker blew up his vehicle near a Federal Police checkpoint in Kirkuk’s Al-Riyadh district,” Hamed al-Obeidi, a local police captain, told Anadolu Agency.

The attack left one police officer dead and another three injured, al-Obeidi said, adding that security forces had since cordoned off the blast site.

Iraq’s Defense Ministry has since confirmed the attack in a statement.

Recent months have seen frequent attacks on security personnel in northern and eastern Iraq, especially in the Diyala, Kirkuk and Saladin provinces.

In 2017, Iraqi officials declared that the Daesh terrorist group had been all but destroyed following a three-year conflict with the Iraqi army and a U.S.-led military coalition.

Nevertheless, the Iraqi army continues to carry out frequent search operations ostensibly aimed at eliminating the group’s lingering presence.