Click to see full-size image. Via Twitter.
Late on December 17, nine officers of the Iraqi Federal Police were killed and two others were wounded in a bomb blast near the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.
The falling officers were traveling in a convoy when the bomb struck near the village of Safra, which lies about 30 kilometers to the southwest of Kirkuk. After the blast, several gunmen attacked the convoy with small arms. One of them was reportedly shot and killed by the police.
Following the deadly attack, Iraqi security forces launched a large-scale combing operation around Safra and in nearby areas.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani ordered a hunt for the “terrorist elements” who carried out the attack, dispatching the federal police commander to the area for further investigation.
“The terrorist elements resorted to malicious methods after they received painful blows at the hands of our heroic security forces,” the PM said in a statement released a day after the attack.
No group has claimed responsibility for the daring attack, so far. However, Iraqi security sources said that ISIS was involved in the attack. The terrorist group’s cells are known to be active in this part of Kirkuk, where they carried out several bombing attacks in the past.
It’s worth noting that ISIS cells in Kirkuk have been benefiting from a territorial dispute between the Iraqi federal government the regional government in Kurdistan that left some parts of the province unguarded.
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