Twin bombing hits Iraq’s Salahuddin province, killing at least four

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack

US Army Colonel Ryan Dillon, spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) in 2017. While officially defeated by the Iraqi military and the coalition in 2017, ISIS continues to operate in the countryShow more

At least four people have been killed in a twin bombing in Iraq’s northern province of Salahudin on Sunday, local media has reported.

The first explosive went off near the village of Khanouka, south of Sharqat.

The device targeted a bus carrying policemen on their way to work, local media has cited police chief Colonel Majeed Ghatran as saying.

The attack killed two people and wounded eight others.

A second blast between the villages of Khanouka and Al Missili targeted a group of officers heading toward the location of the first explosion, killing two and wounding three, according to Col. Ghatran.

No one has immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks, though ISIS continues to operate in the country.

Sharqat, situated around 250 kilometres north of Baghdad, was held by ISIS until autumn 2017.

It was one of the last areas recaptured by the government, which announced several months later that it had ousted IS from Iraq.

Iraq declared victory over the extremist group in December 2017, however the insurgents continue to carry out sporadic attacks on security forces in the north of the country.

Since then Iraqi forces have tried to crush the remaining ISIS sleeper cells that operate near the border in Syria and who they say are trying to cross into Iraq.

According to the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), a total of 32 Iraqi civilians were killed and another 32 injured in acts of terrorism and conflict-related violence in December 2018.

The terror group once held nearly one third of Iraq following a sweeping offensive in the summer of 2014.