Deadly attacks on military facility in remote northern Iraq the latest in a series of assaults targeting security forces in the region.
Militants in Iraq launched an audacious attack on a military barracks in a remote area in the country's north and killed 20 troops, including some who had been bound and shot at close range, authorities said on Sunday, as other attacks killed 18.
The killings at the military barracks in the village of Ayn al-Jahish outside of Mosul mirrored two previous assaults earlier this year in the area targeting security forces. It also represents the latest blow to the government's efforts to achieve stability in restive Sunni-dominated areas.
Gunmen staged the assault late on Saturday night, two police officers said, shooting some at short range while others died fighting the insurgents when they stormed the barracks. A medical official, who confirmed the causality number, said 11 troops had their hands tied behind their backs and suffered close-range gunshots to the head.
The slain troops were in charge of protecting an oil pipeline that sends Iraqi crude oil to international markets and guarding a nearby highway. Attacks on the pipeline are common in the area near Mosul, located about 225 miles northwest of Baghdad.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. However, it mirrored a February attack in the area claimed by the al-Qaida-breakaway group Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. On that occasion, fighters from the group killed 15 soldiers at the barracks, beheading some of them. In April, militants killed at least 10 soldiers at a base outside of Mosul.
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