BAGHDAD

At least five Iraqi security personnel were killed Thursday in an ambush by Daesh terrorists in the northern city of Mosul, according to a local security source. 

Saif al-Din al-Shammari, a captain in Iraq’s border security force, told Anadolu Agency that a group of Daesh gunmen -- disguised as Iraqi security personnel -- had set up a fake checkpoint on the road linking Mosul and the Tal Afar district.

"The terrorists tricked five soldiers who had been on their way home, killing them all and stealing their weapons and vehicles," al-Shammari said.

The terrorists had since fled the scene, he added, going on to note that an Iraqi army force had found the slain security personnel on the road 65 kilometers west of Mosul.

Colonel Ahmed al-Jubouri of the army’s Nineveh Operations Command told Anadolu Agency that Daesh sleeper agents had begun disguising themselves by wearing Iraqi military uniforms.

“This is a dangerous trend,” he said. “It has allowed the terrorists to inflict heavy losses on our forces in recent weeks.”

Late last year, officials in Baghdad declared that Daesh's military presence in Iraq had been all but destroyed.

It appears the notorious terrorist group, however, still maintains "sleeper cells" in certain parts of the country, including the northern Nineveh province.

Reporting by Ahmed Qassem and Mohamed Walid; Writing by Ali Abo Rezeg