Three policemen killed, injured in Islamic State attack against oilfield in Kirkuk

Kirkuk (IraqiNews.com) Three policemen, tasked with guarding an oilfield in Iraq’s oil-rich province of Kirkuk, were killed and injured in an attack by Islamic State militants on Saturday evening, a security source said.

“IS members attacked an oil police station, located near the oil well no. 43 in Khubbaz field, leaving a policeman killed and third injured,” the source told Al-Arabiya.net

The attack, according to the source, is the first one launched by the militants since Iraqi troops recaptured Hawija town, located southwest of Kirkuk, in October.

Another source told Xinhua news agency that the attack was carried out by 10 to 15 IS and that confrontations broke out between the attackers and the police force, resulting in the killing of two policemen and the wounding of three others.

Last week, IS claimed responsibility for killing twenty Iraqi security personnel in an ambush southwest of al-Riyad town in Kirkuk.
Earlier this month, Kirkuk Governor Rakan al-Jabouri warned that Islamic State still poses a serious threat to the security of the province, saying that the militants are still active in Kirkuk’s remote areas and farms around villages.

Kirkuk, which Iraqi troops retook from the Kurdish Peshmerga forces, has five oilfields of Papa karkar, Havana, Bai Hassan, Jambur and Khubbaz.