BAGHDAD, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- A paramilitary tribal fighter was killed and two others wounded on Wednesday in an attack by Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq's central province of Salahudin, a provincial police source said.
The IS militants attacked in the evening an outpost housing the government-backed tribal fighters in al-Eithah area, some 40 km east of the provincial capital Tikrit, Mohammed al-Bazi told Xinhua.
A tribal fighter was killed and two others were wounded in the ensuing fierce clash between IS militants and the tribal fighters affiliated with Hashd Shaabi brigades, al-Bazi said.
A joint reinforcement force of the police and army was dispatched to secure the scene as the extremist militants withdrew to their hideouts in Mteibijah, a rugged area in the eastern part of Salahudin, he added.
Iraqi security forces have repeatedly tried to retake control of Mteibijah, but the vast rugged land and mountains have made it difficult for them to dislodge the extremist militants from the region.
Also in the province, the paramilitary Hashd Shaabi forces arrested a foreign IS militant during a search operation near the town of Dour in the east of Tikrit, al-Bazi said.
The security situation in Iraq has been improved since Iraqi security forces fully defeated the 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.
