At least nine police officers have been killed in a bomb and gun attack in northern Iraq, writes BBC.

The attack took place near the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, about 290km from the capital Baghdad on Sunday.

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility. IS has already said it was behind the planting of a roadside bomb that killed three Iraqi soldiers near Baghdad on Wednesday.

Sunday’s attack began when a bomb blast targeted a truck carrying police near the village of Chalal al-Matar, officials told AFP. The blast was followed by “a direct attack with small arms”.

“An assailant has been killed and we are looking for the others”, the official added, saying that two policemen were also wounded in the attack.

IS once held 88,000 sq km of territory stretching from eastern Iraq to western Syria and imposed its brutal rule on almost eight million people.