TIKRIT, Iraq, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Four people were killed and eight people wounded in two attacks by Islamic State (IS) militants on Wednesday in Iraq's northern central province of Salahudin, a provincial security source told Xinhua.
The extremist IS militants attacked outposts manned by Iraqi army and Sunni tribal fighters in the west of the oil refinery town of Baiji, some 200 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, sparking heavy clashes between the two sides, the source said on condition of anonymity.
The clashes resulted in the killing of three IS militants and the destruction of three of their vehicles, while a security member was killed and two tribal fighters wounded, the source said.
Also in the province, IS militants fired two mortar rounds on al-Baajah village near the government-controlled western bank of the town of Shirqat, some 280 km north of Baghdad, leaving three civilians killed, including two brothers, and six people wounded, the source said.
The extremist militants fired the rounds from their stronghold in the eastern bank of the town across the Tigris River, which bisects Shirqat, the source added.
In September last year, the security forces and allied Sunni and Shiite paramilitary Hashd Shaabi units retook control of the western bank of Shirqat, but left eastern side of the town in the hands of the extremist militants, as the troops continued their push northward to the IS major stronghold in Mosul.
The Sunni-dominated province of Salahudin has witnessed a series of deadly attacks since security forces and allied paramilitary Hashd Shaabi units retook the province from IS militants who seized a large part of it in June 2014.
The incident came as Iraqi security forces, backed by the anti-IS international coalition, were simultaneously conducting a major offensive to dislodge IS militants from their major stronghold in western Mosul in northern Iraq.
