Three Kurdish soldiers were killed in a Daesh attack in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, according to a military officer on Saturday.

Daesh militants attacked a Peshmerga position in southern Kirkuk late Friday, triggering deadly clashes with Kurdish forces, Peshmerga officer capt. Kamran Mahmoud told Anadolu Agency.

He said 12 Kurdish soldiers were injured in the attack, while scores of Daesh militants were killed and injured.

Daesh still controls a large area in southwestern Kirkuk from which it launches attacks against security forces in Kirkuk and Diyala provinces.

Last month, Iraqi forces dislodged Daesh from Mosul, which the terrorist group overran in 2014 along vast swathes of territory in northern and western Iraq.