Police officer killed, conscript wounded in bomb blast, south of Kirkuk
Iraqi security forces evacuate an injured soldier during heavy fighting against Islamic State group militants in Fallujah, Iraq, Wednesday, June 15, 2016. Fallujah has been locked in a cycle of conflict since 2003, when it emerged as a bastion of the insurgency against the Americans. Militant attacks and bombings were followed by sweeping arrest raids, which further stoked local grievances. In 2004, U.S. troops launched two massive assaults on the city, where they fought their bloodiest battles since Vietnam. (AP Photo/Anmar Khalil)
“A bomb went off targeting a Federal Police patrol at al-Bu Mohamed village, Daquq, south of Kirkuk, leaving a police captain killed and a conscript wounded,” the source told AlSumaria News.
Security source, according to the source who preferred anonymity, “cordoned off the accident spot and transferred the wounded to hospital for treatment, while the victim was taken to forensic medicine department.
An offensive is expected to be launched to follow the remnants of Islamic State members who fled southern Kirkuk regions as well as areas east of Tuz Khurmatu and Daquq.
A total of 115 Iraqi civilians, excluding policemen, were killed and another 250 injured in acts of terrorism, violence and armed conflict in Iraq in January 2018, according to casualty figures recorded by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI).
Baghdad was the worst affected governorate, with 323 civilian casualties (90 killed, 233 injured). Diyala followed, with 8 killed and 15 injured; and Nineveh, with 13 killed and 7 injured.
As many as 3,298 civilians were killed and 4,781 others were wounded in 2017, excluding Anbar civilian casualty figures for November and December, which are not available, UNAMI said in a report in December.