BAGHDAD, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- Four soldiers and a commander of a paramilitary Hashd Shaabi force were killed on Saturday in two attacks by the Islamic State (IS) militants in the Iraqi provinces of Kirkuk and Diyala.

In the northern province of Kirkuk, IS militants attacked early in the morning an army outpost in the town of Dibis northwest of the namesake provincial capital Kirkuk, some 250 km north of Iraq's capital Baghdad, Col. Na'im al-Obaidi from Kirkuk police told Xinhua.

The attackers killed four soldiers and seized their weapons and communication equipment before they fled the scene, al-Obaidi said.

Yahia Rasoul, spokesman of the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi forces, said in a separate statement that the Iraqi army's chief of staff of deputy commander of the Joint Operations Command arrived in Kirkuk and an investigation was launched into the incident.

In Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, a commander of a Hashd Shaabi force was killed and another wounded in a roadside bomb explosion near their vehicle, the Hashd Shaabi said in a statement.

It said that the incident occurred during an operation by the Hashd Shaabi forces to hunt down IS militants in the province.

Over the past months, Iraqi security forces have conducted operations against extremist militants to crack down on their intensified activities.

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

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