Baghdad--A huge suicide attack on an Iraqi police base killed at least 37 people Monday as an operation against the Islamic State group continued but looked far from retaking Ramadi.
In Syria, the jihadists kept expanding their self-proclaimed caliphate after weekend gains against both government forces and rival rebels.
A suicide bomber blew up his explosives-laden vehicle at a police base in Iraq's Salaheddin province, killing at least 37 people and wounding more than 30, officers said.
"They are mostly policemen," said a doctor at the main hospital in the nearby city of Samarra where the casualties were brought.
Some police officers said the suicide attacker used a tank to muscle his way into the police base, located between Samarra and Tharthar lake, northwest of Baghdad.
The area is being used as part of a military operation aimed at cutting off the Islamic State group's supply lines in the Anbar province of western Iraq.
IS fighters have in the past year seized a formidable arsenal of military vehicles, weapons and ammunition from retreating Iraqi forces.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Sunday that Iraq had lost 2,300 Humvee armoured vehicles during the fall of second city Mosul a year ago.
The jihadists' latest haul came on May 17 when they captured Ramadi, the capital of Anbar which government and allied tribal fighters had managed to defend for more than 12 months.
The debacle of the security forces prompted Abadi to call in the Hashed al-Shaabi, an umbrella organisation which includes Iran-backed Shiite militias that Baghdad and Washington had been reluctant to involve in the Sunni bastion of Anbar.
AFP
