DHAKA: At least 15 military servicemen were killed in an ambush in western Iraq, including several top-ranking officers.

Security sources told Al Jazeera.

The killings took place on Saturday in the Huran valley of the Sunni Muslim-dominated province of Anbar, when a convoy of the 7th army was hit by the members of the Islamic State of Iraq, the military wing of al-Qaeda, according to sources.

The commander of the army division and his aid were among those killed in the attack.

Violence has been on the rise in Iraq since a deadly security crackdown on a Sunni protest camp in a northern town in April.

Two years after US troops withdrew from Iraq, violence is at its highest level since 2006-7, when strife between Sunnis and Shia Muslims killed tens of thousands of people.

At least 352 people have died in attacks across the country so far this month, according to a media count.

BDST: 1959 HRS, DEC 21, 2013
Edited by Robab Rosan, Current Affairs Editor