Militants kill two at local Iraq government HQ

Militants kill two at local Iraq government HQ

BAGHDAD - Militants armed with assault rifles, pistols and suicide belts attacked a local government headquarters west of the Iraqi capital on Tuesday, killing at least two people, officials said.

The attack comes a year to the day since the Islamic State jihadist group launched a sweeping offensive that overran much of Iraq's Sunni Arab heartland, and Baghdad is still struggling to push the militants back.

Sabah Abdullah, a member of the Amriyat al-Fallujah local council, said two militants wearing police uniforms mounted the attack during a council meeting.

They were killed before they could detonate their explosives but were still able to open fire.

Police Major Arif al-Janabi said the militants killed one policeman and a civilian, while Abdullah put the death toll at two police and one civilian.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but IS has carried out a string of similar attacks, including in Anbar province where Amriyat al-Fallujah is located.

IS has been driven out of some areas north and south of Baghdad but still holds much of western Iraq, including most of Anbar.

Baghdad's hopes of regaining ground in Anbar were dashed last month when IS overran provincial capital Ramadi, which Iraqi forces had defended for more than a year.

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