IS jihadist attack kills 13 Iraqi police

**KIRKUK, (Iraq): Thirteen Iraqi policemen were killed in an Islamic State group attack against a checkpoint in the country's north early Sunday, security and medical sources said.

The attack, in the region of Al-Rashad around 65 kilometres (40 miles) south of Kirkuk city, took place just after midnight, a senior Iraqi police officer told AFP.**

"Members of the Islamic State organisation targeted a federal police checkpoint," said the officer, who did not want to be named.

"Thirteen were killed and three wounded" among the security forces, the officer added.

A medical source based in Kirkuk confirmed the toll. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. IS seized swathes of Iraq in a lightning offensive in 2014, before being beaten back by a counter-insurgency campaign supported by a US-led military coalition.