TIKRIT, Iraq, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Two policemen were killed and two others wounded Monday in an attack by Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq's central province of Salahudin, a provincial police source said.
The incident took place in the evening when IS militants attacked a police checkpoint near the town of Ishaqi, some 60 km south of the provincial capital Tikrit, sparking fierce clashes between the two sides, Capt. Ahmed al-Safi from Salahudin's Operations Command told Xinhua.
The attackers fled the scene before the arrival of the Iraqi security forces, who launched an investigation into the incident and carried out a search in the area for the attackers, Safi said.
The predominately Sunni Arab province of Salahudin has been the scene of a major offensive by Iraqi security forces and allied Hashd Shaabi units to drive out IS militants from the provincial key cities and towns, including its capital Tikrit, some 170 km north of Baghdad.
During the past few months, dozens of IS militants fled their former urban strongholds in Mosul of Salahudin Province and Hawijah area in the west of Kirkuk after the Iraqi forces cleared these areas through major anti-IS offensives.
However, many IS remnants have resorted to hideouts in the rugged areas near the rivers of Tigris and Zab, as well as Himreen mountainous areas to continue their almost daily attacks against civilians and Iraqi forces.
On Dec. 9, 2017, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi officially declared full liberation of Iraq from IS militants. But small groups of IS militants regrouped in the rugged areas and have been carrying out attacks against the security forces and civilians despite the repeated Iraqi military operations to hunt them down.
