BAQUBA, Iraq, July 6 (Xinhua) -- Four people were killed and five policemen wounded on Thursday in separate bomb and gunfire attacks across the volatile province of Diyala in eastern Iraq, a provincial security source told Xinhua.
Gunmen shot dead a policeman near the town of Bani-Saad in southwest of the provincial capital city of Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad, the source said on condition of anonymity.
Two gunmen, suspected to be Islamic State (IS) militants, were killed when a roadside bomb detonated while they were planting it at a road at Himreen mountainous area in the northern part of Diyala province, the source said.
A government employee, who works for the provincial health department, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen while driving his car in south of Baquba, the source said.
In addition, in the province, five policemen were wounded when suspected IS gunmen opened fire on their outpost near the town of Maqdadiyah, some 40 km north of Baquba, the source added.
The incidents 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.
Many blame the current chronic instability, cycle of violence, and the emergence of extremist groups, such as the IS, on the U.S., which invaded and occupied Iraq in March 2003.
