DHAKA: At least 16 Iraqi border guards were killed on Monday in a dawn assault by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group on their post near the Syrian border.

Provincial and security officials said, reports The Straits Times.

‘Sixteen border guards, including a captain, were killed and four wounded in an attack targeting their headquarters in Al-Walid, near the Syrian border,’ Faleh al-Issawi, deputy head of the Anbar provincial council, told the media.

He said the attack occurred at around 6:00am local time.

A commander in the Iraqi border force and a police major confirmed the death toll. Despite the attack, ‘Al-Walid is still in the hands of Iraqi forces’, the major said.

The crossing is one of the country’s most remote outposts and lies 500km west of Baghdad near the westernmost point in Anbar province where the borders of Iraq, Syria and Jordan meet.

Extremist fighters briefly held Al-Walid border crossing on June 23 but it has remained in government hands since.

BDST: 2040 HRS, DEC 01, 2014