Islamic State intensifies suicide attacks in Iraq killing dozens

The Islamic State group (IS) killed more than a dozen security forces on Sunday when several suicide attackers infiltrated a base near Tikrit in Salahuddin province following similar attacks in Anbar province.

The suicide bombers targeted a police force from Nineveh, the northern province of which Mosul is the capital, that was undergoing training at the Speicher military base in Tikrit.

Iraqi security sources told The New Arab seven suicide bombers were able to infiltrate the base "during the morning roll count of troops and trainees inside the camp."

The attackers first shot at the Iraqi police force and "when they were out of ammunition they detonated their suicide vests in different [parts] of the base," the source added, pointing out that three senior officers were among those killed in the attacks.

"Under the cover of fog, they broke into Speicher," said Mahmoud al-Sorchi, spokesman for the paramilitary force being set up to take back IS-held Nineveh.

More than 30 other policemen were also wounded.

IS claimed the attack saying that seven suicide attackers managed to enter the huge military base, which lies about 160 kilometres (100 miles) north of Baghdad.

In a statement posted online, IS said its commando reached a centre where 1,200 cadets were being trained, sparking clashes that lasted four hours.

IS tactics

IS is trying to expand its attacks and move the battle from Ramadi in Anbar province to Salahuddin province, "taking advantage of the common borders and wide desert area between the two provinces," according to Iraqi security sources.

A local source told The New Arab that IS attacked Samara in Salahuddin province once again on Sunday after the Popular Mobilisation Shia militia forces were able to repel the group's attack on Saturday evening.

"The joint forces (the government-backed Popular Mobilisation and the Iraqi army) killed more than 20 IS militants," the source added.

Ramadi

On Friday, IS militants struck security forces with seven suicide car bombs in two areas on the outskirts of Ramadi, which was recently declared liberated by Iraqi officials.

On Saturday, the group targeted 11 military bases in the centre of the capital of Anbar killing several security forces, after taking advantage of security weakness in some of the areas according to Salman al-Aithawi, a Sunni tribal leader fighting against the extremist group.

Aithawi said that seven suicide attackers also targeted the headquarters of the Iraqi army's 1st Brigade in eastern Fallhujah - also in Anbar province - killing more than a dozen troops and wounding several others.

With agencies