7 killed in suicide attack, clash with IS militants in central Iraq

At least seven people were killed and 21 others wounded on Tuesday in a suicide bomb attack near the Iraqi capital Baghdad and a heavy clash with Islamic State (IS) militants in the western province of Anbar, security sources said.

In Anbar province, a fierce clash erupted in the morning when dozens of IS militants attacked police positions outside the town of Khaldiyah, some 80 km west of Baghdad, leaving at least five policemen dead and 12 others wounded, a provincial security source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The attack came as Iraqi security forces and allied Hashd Shaabi paramilitary militias have been fighting for months to retake control of key cities and towns in the largest province from the extremist IS militants, which seized most of Anbar and tried to advance toward Baghdad.

Separately, a suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest at an army checkpoint in Tarmiyah area, some 40 km north of Baghdad, killing two soldiers and wounding four others and five civilians, along with damaging several nearby cars, an Interior Ministry source anonymously told Xinhua.

Iraq has been witnessing some of the worst violence in years. Terrorism and violence have left at least 12,282 civilians dead and 23,126 others injured in 2014, making it the deadliest year since the flareup of sectarian violence in 2006-2007, according to a recent United Nations report.

Many blame the current chronic instability, cycle of violence and the emergence of extremist groups such as the Islamic State (IS) on the United States, which invaded Iraq in March 2003 under the pretext of seeking to destroy weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in the country. The war led to the ouster and eventual execution of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, but no WMD was found. Enditem