Roadside bomb kills Iraqi army brigadier, soldier near Kirkuk

BAGHDAD, Oct 14 - A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi army vehicle killed an Iraqi army brigadier and a soldier near the northern city of Kirkuk on Wednesday, the military said, in the second attack on Iraqi security forces in the area this month.

The bomb struck an army patrol conducting a search operation at an Islamic State hideout that Iraqi warplanes had targeted a day earlier, about 80 km (50 miles) south of Kirkuk, according to a military statement.

The attack, which wounded two other soldiers, follows an October 5 assault claimed by Islamic State militants southwest of Kirkuk, in which one federal policeman was killed and four others wounded when gunmen armed with machineguns and sniper rifles attacked a federal police position.

The latest incident occurred just weeks after US forces completed their withdrawal from Iraq on September 30, ending their military mission in the country.

Iraqi officials have said Islamic State retains sleeper cells capable of carrying out hit-and-run attacks, raising concerns that the militants could seek to exploit security gaps despite continued Iraqi counter-insurgency operations.

Supporters of pro-Iranian Iraqi militia groups celebrated the pullout and some analysts said it could empower them in the spreading conflict begun by U.S.-Israeli air strikes on Iran in February. REUTERS