BAGHDAD, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- Three security members were killed and four others wounded on Wednesday in an attack by Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq's central province of Salahudin, a police source said.
The attack took place in the evening when IS militants with machine guns and assault rifles attacked outposts of Iraqi army and paramilitary Hashd Shaabi fighters in north of the town of Duloiya, some 90 km north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, Mohammed al-Bazi from the provincial police told Xinhua.
The attack sparked a fierce clash between the two sides and resulted in the killing of a soldier and two Hashd Shaabi fighters and the wounding of four of the security members, while no immediate report was available about casualties among the attackers who fled the scene as reinforcement troops were dispatched to the area, al-Bazi said.
The security situation in Iraq has been improved since Iraqi security forces fully defeated extremist IS militants across the country late in 2017.
However, IS remnants have since melted in urban areas or resorted to deserts and rugged areas, carrying out frequent guerilla attacks against security forces and civilians.
