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The New Arab, 25 Feb 2018

Two policemen have been killed by IS militants at an oilfield in Iraq, showing the group has still not been vanished from the country. Tags: Iraq, oil, Khabbaz oilfield, ISIS, IS, Islamic State group, Hawija

Two Iraqi policemen were killed in an Islamic State group raid on an oil field Saturday, in the latest daring raid by the militants in the country.

It was the first attack on energy facilities since IS fighters were defeated by the Iraqi army last year, a security source told AFP.

"A large number of IS terrorists attacked a post of the oil police force near well 43 in the Khabbaz oilfield, killing two and wounding a third," the source told said.

Baghdad announced the defeat of IS in Iraq in December, ending the militant group's hold on the north and west of the country which began in a swift 2014 offensive.

Despite IS being overcome on the battlefield, some cells have carried out ambushes and suicide bomb attacks on security forces in Iraq.

One ambush in the Hawija region last week killed 27 pro-government fighters.

Iraq's central government retook the vital oil fields around Kirkuk from the autonomous Kurdistan region last year after it held a disputed vote on independence.

Iraq, OPEC's second biggest producer, is hugely reliant on income driven from oil, while the country needs tens of billions of dollars to rebuild after the devastating fight against IS.