Unknown gunmen on Friday (November 16th) killed three policemen and wounded two others in an attack on a police checkpoint north of Mosul, capital of Ninawa province, the Iraqi police said.

"Unknown gunmen on motorcycles attacked a police checkpoint in Rabia near the Iraqi-Syrian border using machine guns," Ninawa police spokesperson Col. Khalid al-Hamdani told Al-Shorfa.

A police captain was among the wounded, he added.

Al-Hamdani said the gunmen fled to an unknown area after the attack. Meanwhile, security forces launched a large-scale operation in search of them.