Unidentified gunmen killed at least 11 people and wounded 8 others including soldiers in an attack on an Iraqi army post in western Baghdad, police sources and medics have said.

The assailants in four vehicles attacked the post in the city's Al Radhwaniya district using grenades and automatic weapons, the sources said. The army and police forces have started an operation in search of the attackers, police sources said. 

Meanwhile, security sources and medics told AFP that the attack was carried out by Daesh terror group. 

There was no immediate claim of responsibility from Daesh.

Daesh attack on a lookout point west of Baghdad manned by a state-sponsored tribal force left 11 people dead late on Sunday, security sources and medics told AFP.

The militants threw grenades and fired on the tribal Hashed forces stationed at Al Radwaniyah, on the southern outskirts of the Iraqi capital, near the Baghdad airport.

"IS [Daesh] attacked the monitoring tower, killing five members of the tribal Hashed and six local people who had come to help repel the attack," a security source said.

A medic confirmed the toll to AFP, and said eight wounded were transferred to a hospital in central Baghdad.

Daesh's sleeper cells

Daesh swept across a third of Iraq in 2014, seizing major cities across the north and west and reaching the suburbs of the capital Baghdad.

After a fierce three-year fight backed by the US-led coalition, Iraq declared Daesh defeated in late 2017.

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The coalition has significantly drawn down its troops this year, consolidating them to three main bases in Baghdad, Ain al Asad in the west and Arbil in the north.

But Daesh's sleeper cells have continued to wage hit-and-run attacks on security forces and state infrastructure, particularly in desert areas where troops are stretched thin.

Attacks with such high tolls and so close to the capital have been rare, however.

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