Suspected ISIL attack kills at least 12 Iraqi police near Kirkuk

Authorities say the deadly attack south of Kirkuk city took place just after midnight.

At least 12 Iraqi police officers have been killed in an attack the ISIL (ISIS) armed group is suspected of carrying out at a security checkpoint in the country’s north. The twin attack on Sunday, in the al-Rashad region south of Kirkuk city, took place just after midnight, Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud Abdelwahed, reporting from the capital Baghdad, said. The attackers first engaged in a military confrontation with police officers that lasted about two hours, killing three officers. Reinforcements coming to the area were killed in an ambush using explosives planted on the roadside, Abdelwahed said.