Baghdad [Iraq], July 31 (ANI/Xinhua): Around 13 people were killed and 45 others injured on Friday in an attack by terrorists of the extremist Islamic State (IS) group on a funeral and a nearby checkpoint in Salahudin province in Iraq, a provincial police source said.

The attack took place in the evening when IS attacked a funeral tent in the village of Albu Jily near the town of Yathrib, some 80 km north of Baghdad, Col. Mohammed al-Bazi told Xinhua.

The IS terrorists also attacked a nearby checkpoint in the village, al-Bazi said, adding that three policemen were among the killed.

The security forces sealed off the scene as reinforcement troops arrived in the area, he added.

A medical source from Balad Hospital in the nearby town of Balad told Xinhua that they received 13 bodies with bullet holes, while 45 wounded others were admitted to the hospital for treatment, some of them in critical condition.

A brief statement by the Iraqi Joint Operations Command confirmed the attack, adding that details were to be released later.

For his part, Salahudin Provincial Governor Ammar al-Jaber condemned the deadly attack in a statement, stressing the security forces will launch an investigation into the incident to bring the perpetrators to justice.

During the past months, IS terrorists have intensified their attacks on the Iraqi security forces in the province the terrorists previously controlled, leaving dozens dead and wounded.

The security situation in Iraq has been improving since Iraqi security forces fully defeated the IS terrorists across the country late in 2017. However, IS remnants have since melted in urban areas or deserts and rugged areas, carrying out frequent guerilla attacks against security forces and civilians. (ANI/Xinhua)