BAGHDAD, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Four security members were killed on Monday in separate attacks in the provinces of Diyala and Salahudin, security sources said.
In Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, a policeman and two explosives experts were killed and a government employee was wounded in an explosion, while trying to defuse a roadside bomb near a river outside al-Abbara area in the northeast of the provincial capital Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad, Abdullah al-Hayali, the mayor of Baquba, told Xinhua.
The incident took place when the policemen were escorting the employees of the provincial irrigation department who were dredging the river, al-Hayali said.
In Salahudin province, unknown gunmen opened fire on a police checkpoint in a village near the town of Balad, some 80 km north of Baghdad, leaving a policeman killed and another wounded, Mohammed al-Bazi from the provincial police told Xinhua.
The attacks came as the extremist IS militants have intensified their attacks on the security forces, including Hashd Shaabi forces, and civilians in the formerly IS-controlled Sunni provinces, resulting in the killing and wounding of dozens.
The security situation in Iraq has been improving since Iraqi security forces fully defeated the IS militants across the country late in 2017.
However, IS remnants have since melted in urban areas or deserts and rugged areas, carrying out frequent guerilla attacks against security forces and civilians. Enditem
