IS roadside bomb in Iraq leaves 5 peshmerga dead, 4 wounded

The official state news agency of Iraq's Kurdish-run region says a roadside bomb attack by Islamic State group fighters in northern Iraq killed five Kurdish forces and wounded four others

BAGHDAD -- A roadside bomb attack by Islamic State group fighters in northern Iraq killed five Kurdish forces and wounded four others, Kurdish state news agency Rudaw reported Sunday.

The peshmerga fighters were killed in the Garmian district in Iraq's Kurdish-run north late Saturday. IS militants then attacked a peshmerga post, wounding four, according to the report.

Attacks targeting Iraqi security forces, including Kurdish peshmerga fighters, are common and have been on the rise since IS was defeated on the battlefield in 2017. Militants remain active through sleeper cells in many areas, especially across a band of territory in the north under dispute between federal Iraq and the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government.

Militants from IS, a Sunni Muslim extremist group, still conduct operations, often targeting security forces, power stations and other infrastructure.