IS attack on Iraq police trainees near Tikrit kills at least 12

The Islamic State group killed at least 12 members of the Iraqi security forces on Sunday when several suicide attackers infiltrated a base near Tikrit, security officials said.

The target was a police force from Nineveh, the northern province of which Mosul is the capital, that was undergoing training at the Speicher military base where the Sunni group executed more than 1,500 Shia airforce cadets in June of 2014.

The attack comes a little over a week after Iraqi troops recaptured Ramadi, which the militant group had held since last May. 

Mosul, held by IS since June 2014, is largely expected to be the target of the next major Iraqi offensive aginst the group.

"Under the cover of fog, they broke into Speicher," said Mahmud al-Sorchi, spokesman for the paramilitary force being set up to take back IS-held Nineveh.

"Nineveh police managed to kill seven attackers, but three were able to detonate their suicide vests," he said.

Twenty policemen were wounded in the attack, which took place in the middle of the night.

In a statement posted online, IS said that seven suicide attackers managed to enter the huge military base, which lies about 160 kilometres north of Baghdad.

IS said clashes with the Iraqi security forces lasted for four hours.