Baghdad, Jun 12 (IANS): Two Iraqi Army officers were killed and three others wounded in an attack by Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq's northern province of Kirkuk, the Iraqi military said.

The attack occurred Saturday night when the Iraqi troops clashed with IS militants after they opened fire on an Army outpost in the al-Debis area, northwest of the namesake provincial capital Kirkuk, nearly 250 km north of Baghdad, according to a statement issued on Sunday by the Security Media Cell, a media outlet affiliated with the Iraqi Joint Operations Command.

A military committee arrived at the scene to launch an investigation into the incident, the statement added as quoted by Xinhua news agency report.

The security situation in Iraq has improved since the defeat of the IS in 2017. However, IS remnants have since melted into urban centres, deserts, and rugged areas, carrying out frequent guerilla attacks against security forces and civilians.