BAGHDAD, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Six policemen were killed on Saturday in two attacks by Islamic State (IS) militants in Salahudin province in the north of Iraqi capital Baghdad, a provincial police source said.
Early in the morning, IS militants opened fire on a police outpost in Tal al-Dhahab village, some 75 km north of Baghdad, leaving three policemen killed, Mohammed al-Bazi told Xinhua.
Another attack occurred in the early morning on the rugged area of Mteibijah in the eastern part of the province, when IS militants attacked a police outpost, killing three policemen and wounding another, al-Bazi said.
Mteibijah area has long been a redoubt of IS militants despite repeated anti-IS military operations in the sprawling rugged areas in the eastern part of Salahudin province, which extends to the neighboring Diyala province and the nearby Himreen mountainous area.
Earlier in the day, 11 paramilitary tribal fighters were reportedly killed when IS militants attacked an outpost of manned by the Sunni tribal fighters, who are part of the government-backed Hashd Shaabi brigades, in Dijlah area, some 150 km north of Baghdad, according to al-Bazi.
Despite repeated military operations against the IS remnants, IS militants are still hiding in deserts, rugged areas as well as in Himreen mountain range which extends in the provinces of Diyala, Salahudin and Kirkuk. They are capable of carrying out frequent guerilla attacks against security forces and civilians.
The Iraqi Joint Operations Command said earlier in a statement that a total of 135 IS militants have been killed in Iraq during the period from Jan. 1 to April 15, in 1,060 anti-IS operations by the Iraqi security forces.
It said that up to 88 security members and 82 civilians were also killed by the IS militants during the same period. Enditem
