Twelve people are dead after militants attacked a police checkpoint north of Tikrit and then detonated a car bomb at the entrance to the city.
Iraqi police and military sources said September 24 that the attack is the first of its kind since the city, 150 kilometers north of Baghdad, was retaken from Islamic State in April 2015.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
Police said one militant shot dead four police officers at the checkpoint before being killed in return fire.
Two other militants continued through the checkpoint about seven kilometers to the city limits and then detonated the explosives in their pickup truck, killing eight people and wounding 23.
