At least 13 policemen have been killed in an attack by the Daesh terror group on a checkpoint near Kirkuk in northern Iraq, medical and security sources said.

The attack, to the south of the city, took place just after midnight, a senior Iraqi police officer told AFP news agency on Sunday. 

Militant cells regularly target the Iraqi army and police in the area, but this attack was one of the Daesh group's most deadly this year.