Six Hashd al-Shaabi killed by gunmen in Iraq's Diyala

Six members of the Iranian-backed Shia Hashd al-Shaabi militia were killed on Monday after an armed group attacked their security checkpoint northeast of Baqubah.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – Six members of the Iranian-backed Shia Hashd al-Shaabi militia were killed on Monday after an armed group attacked their security checkpoint northeast of Baqubah.

According to security sources quoted by local Iraqi media, an armed group carried out the attack in the afternoon at a security checkpoint in the Al-Hafayr area, northeast of Baqubah, the capital of Iraq’s Diyala Province.

“Six members of the Hashd al-Shaabi were killed while the attackers fled to an unknown destination,” the security source told al-Sumeriya news agency.

“The members of the security force transferred the bodies of the Hashd al-Shaabi members to medical units,” the source said, adding security took precautionary measures in anticipation of another attack.

No group has claimed responsibility for the violence.

However, Iraqi forces and Iranian-backed Shia militias are often targeted at their security checkpoints in the Diyala area by armed groups believed to be remnants of the Islamic State (IS).

Earlier on Monday, a member of the Iraqi Federal Police was killed in an improvised explosive device attack on a police patrol in a southern suburb of Kirkuk Province.

The explosion took place while a police unit was patrolling a village, killing a police captain and leaving another officer wounded.

Last week, two members of the Shia militia group as well as the Iraqi Federal Police were killed, and several others wounded in two separate IS attacks in Kirkuk.

Since Iraqi forces and the Shia militias took control of Kirkuk and other disputed areas in October, unprecedented security incidents including kidnappings, assassinations, and bombings have increased.