By Ibrahim Salih

BAGHDAD 

Dozens were killed, mostly militants, in a spate of attacks across Iraq on Monday as the country marked the start of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha.

Daesh militants attacked a security headquarters in al-Rutba in western Iraq, police officer Ahmed al-Duleimi told Anadolu Agency.

“Three policemen were killed in ensuing clashes with the attackers,” he said.

According to al-Duleimi, 11 Daesh militants, including three bombers, were killed by Iraqi forces during the attack.

In northern Iraq, 16 Daesh militants were reportedly killed and nine others injured in a U.S.-led airstrike on Daesh positions in Iraq’s second largest city of Mosul.

Iraqi forces are currently preparing to launch an offensive to recapture Mosul, which was overrun by the terrorist group in 2014.

Meanwhile, a bomb explosion killed a policeman and injured three others south of Baghdad. Two people were also killed and 11 others injured when a device exploded east of the Iraqi capital.

Iraqi authorities have deployed thousands of forces to secure the four-day festival of Eid al-Adha as the militants often use the occasion to carry out attacks.

Iraq has suffered a devastating security vacuum since mid-2014, when Daesh captured Mosul and overran large swathes of territory in the northern and western parts of the country in 2014.