Officer killed, five others wounded in bomb blast near Saudi borders

Anbar (IraqiNews.com) A senior officer was killed, while five others were wounded in an explosion that occurred near common borders with Saudi Arabia, a security source said.

Speaking to AlSumaria News on Saturday, the source said, “a bomb targeted a patrol of border guards on the road linking between Arar exit and al-Anaza police station, near the Saudi borders, 430 kilometers west of Ramadi.”

“The blast left a border guard officer killed and five others wounded,” the source who preferred anonymity, added.

On Friday, Shafaq News reported that a senior border guard officer was killed as a bomb went off through his convoy at the city of Rutba, near Iraq’s borders with Jordan.

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.

Security members, paramilitary groups and civilians are targeted by bombings and armed attacks since the Iraqi government launched a wide-scale campaign to retake IS-occupied areas in 2016.

More than 500 Iraqis were killed and injured during July due to violence and armed conflicts, according to a monthly count by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI). Baghdad was the second most affected province with 38 killed and 85 injured.