BAGHDAD, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- An Iraqi officer and two soldiers were killed on Sunday in a booby-trapped car explosion in the western province of Anbar, a local official said.
The incident took place in the afternoon when an Iraqi army patrol approached a car with a body left inside at a village near the town of al-Rutba, some 300 km west of the provincial capital Ramadi, Imad al-Dulaimi, mayor of al-Rutba, told Xinhua.
The car was apparently left by Islamic State (IS) militants to detonate near the patrol's vehicles, al-Dulaimi said.
The troops launched a search campaign in the area for the extremist militants who used to attack the security forces there.
The security situation in Iraq was dramatically improved after Iraqi security forces fully defeated the extremist IS militants across the country late in 2017.
IS remnants, however, have since melted in urban areas or resorted to deserts and rugged areas as safe havens, carrying out frequent hit-and-run attacks against security forces and civilians.
