Twelve police personnel killed, injured in suicide attack, south of Mosul
A firefighter hoses down a street after a suicide bomb attack in the city of Kerbala, Iraq June 9, 2017. REUTERS/Stringer
“Five policemen were killed, while seven others were wounded as an attacker, wearing suicide belt, blew up himself targeting a checkpoint in al-Houd village, which links al-Qayyarah to Shirqat, south of Mosul,” Cap. Azhar Mohamed told BasNews.
“The bomber blew himself up while between security personnel,” he added. “The forces cordoned off the blast spot and transferred the wounded to hospital. Investigations on the accident were conducted.
Violence in the country has surged further with the emergence of Islamic State Sunni extremist militants who proclaimed an “Islamic Caliphate” in Iraq and Syria in 2014.
114 Iraqi civilians were killed, while 244 others were wounded as result of terrorism, violence and armed conflicts, according to a monthly release by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), issued on Wednesday.
Baghdad was the worst affected Governorate, coming in the first place with 177 civilian casualties (38 killed, 139 injured). Anbar province followed with 36 killed and 55 injured, and then Kirkuk with 18 killed and 33 injured.
The Iraqi capital has seen almost daily bombings and armed attacks against security members, paramilitary troops and civilians since the Iraqi government launched a wide-scale campaign to retake Islamic State-occupied areas in 2016.
The total figure marked a decline from last month’s, which reached more than 500 civilians. The victims went down from 196, while the injured decreased down from 381.