Daesh attack leaves 2 Iraqi policemen dead in Kirkuk

By Hussein al-Amir and Aref Youssef

BAGHDAD (AA) - At least two Iraqi federal police officers were killed on Thursday -- and another two injured -- in an attack by Daesh terrorists on a military post in Kirkuk province, according to local police sources.

Kirkuk Police Captain Hamed al-Obeidi told Anadolu Agency that terrorists had attacked a security barrier erected by Federal Police in the village of Rubeida south of Kirkuk’s Daqoq district.

“At least two Federal Police officers were killed and another two injured,” al-Obeidi said, adding that two Daesh terrorists had been killed in subsequent clashes with police.

Iraq’s Defense Ministry has since issued a statement dismissing recent reports in the local media that the terrorist group still maintained control over some villages in southern Kirkuk.

Late last year, officials in Baghdad declared that Daesh's military presence in Iraq had been all but dismantled.

It appears the group still maintains "sleeper cells" in certain parts of the country, including oil-rich Kirkuk.