BAQUBA, Iraq, May 22 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi soldiers on Monday killed four suicide bombers who carried out an attack on an army base in Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, a security source said.
The suicide bombers, affiliated to the extremist Islamic State (IS) militant group, carried out an attack at about 4:00 a.m. (0100 GMT) on army's Karkoush base in east of the provincial capital city of Baquba, about 65 km northeast of Baghdad, Lt. Gen. Mezhir al-Azzawi, commander of Dijlah Operations Command, told Xinhua.
The four militants, wearing explosive vests and carrying assault rifles, attacked northern gate of the base, but the troops fired back and killed one of them, while the other three surrounded after they holed up behind concrete barriers at the scene, said al-Azzawi, whose command is responsible for the security in Diyala province.
"Our forces killed all the four suicide bombers who tried to enter the Karkoush military base. The situation in under control," Azzawi said.
He said that two Iraqi soldiers were killed and three others wounded by the clashes with the IS militants.
The attack came as the Iraqi security forces backed by anti-IS international coalition are carrying out a major offensive to drive out the IS militants from their major stronghold in the western side of Mosul in northern Iraq.
