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BAGHDAD: A \u200croadside bomb targeting an Iraqi army vehicle killed an Iraqi army brigadier and a soldier near the northern city of Kirkuk on Wednesday, the military said, in the second attack on Iraqi security forces in the area this month.<\/p>\n
The bomb struck an army patrol conducting a search operation at an \u200cIslamic State \u200chideout that Iraqi warplanes \u200chad targeted a day earlier, about 80 km (50 miles) south of Kirkuk, according to a military statement.<\/p>\n
The attack, which wounded two other soldiers, follows an October 5 assault claimed by Daesh militants southwest of Kirkuk, in which one \u200cfederal policeman was \u200ckilled and four others wounded when gunmen \u200carmed with machine guns and sniper rifles attacked \u200ca federal police position.<\/p>\n
The latest incident occurred just weeks after US forces completed their withdrawal from Iraq on September \u200c30, ending their military mission in the country.<\/p>\n
Iraqi officials have said Islamic State retains sleeper cells capable of carrying out hit-and-run attacks, raising concerns that the militants could seek to exploit security gaps despite continued Iraqi counter-insurgency operations. Supporters of pro-Iranian Iraqi militia groups celebrated the pullout and some analysts said it could empower them in the spreading conflict begun by US-Israeli air strikes on Iran in February.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n