IS blows up 2 oil wells, kills 2 security members in Iraq

A statement by the media office of the Iraqi Ministry of Oil said the IS militants on Wednesday blew up two oil wells and set them ablaze in the Bai Hassan oil field in the al-Dibis area northwest of the namesake provincial capital Kirkuk, some 250 km north of the capital Baghdad, reports Xinhua news agency. 

The attack resulted in the killing and wounding of some security forces, the statement added, without giving further details. 

Teams and firefighting vehicles of the Iraqi North Oil Company managed to extinguish the blaze at one well and were still working to extinguish the other. 

Meanwhile, Issam al-Bayati from the provincial police told Xinhua that IS militants attacked the oil field at dawn and clashed with the security forces guarding the oil field, killing two of them and wounding three others. 

Iraq's oil installations and pipelines have been frequently attacked by extremist IS militants despite the improvement of the security situation in the country since the government declared the full defeat of the terror group in 2017. 

IS remnants have since melted into deserts and rugged areas, carrying out frequent guerilla attacks against security forces and civilians.