BAGHDAD (AA): Twelve Iraqi policemen were killed Sunday in Daesh/ISIS attack in Kirkuk in northern Iraq, according to local media.

An explosive device exploded at a federal police patrol before Daesh/ISIS terrorists opened fire on the force, Baghdad Today website said, citing a local police source.

Daesh/ISIS claimed responsibility on its Telegram channel. m The statement said its attacked “a police patrol… detonated an explosive device then attacked them with machine guns and hand grenades.”

The bombing took place near the village of Safra, southwest of Kirkuk in the Kurdistan region.

Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani immediately ordered an investigation into the attack.

Daesh/ISIS overran Iraq’s Mosul, Salahuddin and Anbar provinces in 2014, as well as parts of Diyala and Kirkuk provinces, before these regions were gradually freed from the terror group.

Iraqi authorities announced victory against Daesh/ISIS on Dec. 9, 2017, yet the group still carries out sporadic attacks in the rural areas of these provinces.

Writing by Ahmed Asmar