Gun, suicide bomb attacks kill 12 in Tikrit

SAMARRA, Iraq: Militants killed 12 people in a shooting and a suicide bombing on Saturday in the northern city of Tikrit, which was recaptured from the Islamic State group last year, police said.

Tikrit was seized by IS in June 2014, but the city has largely been spared the attacks that have plagued other parts of the country since its recapture.

Militants shot dead four security personnel at a checkpoint on the west side of the city, then continued north and detonated an explosives-rigged vehicle at another checkpoint, killing eight more people, a police colonel and lieutenant colonel said.

The attacks also wounded a total of 23 people, according to the officers.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, but IS frequently carries out suicide attacks targeting both civilians and security forces in Iraq.

Hometown of executed dictator Saddam Hussein, Tikrit lies 60-km north of Baghdad and was the second city to fall to IS in 2014 as the jihadists swept through large areas north and west of the capital.

It was also the first city to be recaptured by Iraqi forces, which are now preparing for a push on Mosul, a city north of Tikrit that is the last one held by IS in the country.