BAGHDAD, March 6 (Xinhua) -- One policeman was killed and three others injured on Wednesday in a roadside bomb explosion in Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, a provincial security source said.
"A roadside bomb, apparently planted by the Islamic State (IS) militants, detonated near a police patrol in al-Tawakol village in the north of the town of al-Muqdadiya, some 40 km northeast of the provincial capital Baquba," Ali Hussein al-Tamimi, head of the security committee of al-Muqdadiya town hall, told Xinhua.
"The explosion destroyed the vehicle, killing a policeman and wounding three others aboard," al-Tamimi said.
The blast has prompted intensified security measures and a search in nearby orchards for the militants who planted the bomb, he added.
Despite repeated military operations in Diyala, IS remnants are still hiding in some rugged areas near the border with Iran, and in the sprawling areas extending from the western part of the province to the Himreen mountain range in the north of Baquba.
In December 2017, Iraq declared full liberation of its territories from the IS after the security forces and the paramilitary Hashd Shaabi units, backed by the anti-IS international coalition, recaptured all areas once seized by the extremist group.
However, IS remnants have since melted in urban areas or resorted to deserts and rugged areas as safe havens, carrying out guerilla attacks from time to time against the security forces and civilians.
