3 killed in suicide attack on refugee camp in northern Iraq

Three people were killed and five others wounded on Friday when two suicide bombers from the Islamic State (IS) militant group attacked a refugee camp near a town in northern Iraq, a Kurdish security source said.

The attack occurred at dawn when one of the attackers detonated his explosive vest at the entrance of the camp near the town of Makhmour, some 40 km southeast of the IS-held city of Mosul, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Another suicide bomber tried to enter the camp after the first explosion and opened fire on the guards from his assault rifle but was shot dead, the source said.

The guards of the camp, who are affiliated to the Kurdish Peshmerga security forces, surrounded the camp for fear of further attacks by the IS militants on the camp, the source added.

The camp is housing some 3,000 people from the families of Kurdish fighters from Turkey, known as Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), who fled their homes in the south of the neighboring Turkey and were allowed to live in the camp by Saddam Hussein's regime since 1999.

The PKK is currently a major force on the front lines fighting the IS. They have also been deemed as a terrorist organization by Turkey as the group has been waging its separatist war against Turkey since 1984. Endit